Wolf Lord
by Mell8
Summary: I am the Wolf who stalks the night. Fear me, because I like cuddling with a vampire. DG Future AU Pre DH.
1. Chapter 1

Wolf Lord

Chapter One

By Mell8

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_The Ministry regulates werewolves. Already in 1637 there was a Werewolf Code of Conduct (PS16). Dolores Umbridge was instrumental in the passage of restrictive anti-werewolf legislation that Sirius said made it almost impossible for Lupin to get a job. (OP14)_

_According to Scamander, werewolves have been shunted between the Beast and Being Divisions of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures for years. At one point, the Werewolf Registry and Werewolf Capture Unit were both in the Beast Division, while at the same time the office for Werewolf Support Services was in the Being Division._

_--Taken from the Harry Potter Lexicon on Werewolves_.

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Present:

The wolf's howl broke the stillness of the full moon night, arresting the chirping of the crickets and leaving behind total silence in its wake.

Wolf looked up at the huge yellow orb that dominated the midnight sky and smiled condescendingly with a barring of sharp teeth. He stopped the return howl from leaving his throat with little effort, as it was terribly demeaning to answer the cry of a common wolf, and loped off after his parents.

This was their last run together before he got on an airplane and went across the Ocean to attend Hogwarts and he wanted to enjoy it.

His father's white fur stood out vibrantly in the green, late summer brush and Wolf easily chased after the flicking tail. His father jumped out of the way and mockingly snorted as Wolf skidded to a stop on his four paws to avoid crashing into the tree his father had just been scent marking.

An answering snort behind him made Wolf turn around and growl under his breath. His mother, a wolf such a deep red that she could be mistaken for a pool of blood in the right circumstances, stood on a small hillock behind him. She mockingly bowed her head towards her only son and leader of their pack before jumping down and tackling her mate.

Wolf lifted his tail in the air in an arrogant but joking dismissal and left his parents to their play. He had to check on the new cubs one last time to make sure they could control their wolves and would not have any problems while he was away. Then he had to make sure that his father and Ben, the second and third in the pack, knew exactly what to do if something went wrong.

In the morning he would be boarding a plane to London and would be leaving behind his werewolf pack for the first time since he had been born. Everything here must be settled so he did not worry while he was away.

He sniffed the ground and found Ben's scent up ahead. With Ben and his father in control the pack would still be okay when he returned.

III

Wolf groaned as he stepped off the train and stopped a second to crack his back and stretch his face to the sky.

The smells here were so different than what he was used to. Everything was wet and had a moldy overtone from the water that made his nose writhe in disgust. At the same time the magic that imbued every scent make him want to change into his other form and explore everything further on his four paws.

He had long practice at ignoring the wolf's cravings and was able to step forward and join the crowds of students streaming towards the road instead of transforming on the spot.

"Firs' years this way!"

Wolf sniffed and grimaced. He could smell a half giant, but, if what his parents said was correct, an untrained half giant. As far as Wolf knew, Hagrid was the only being at this school with the capabilities to unearth the secret that he was a werewolf. A mere Witch or Wizard would never be able to tell but a giant had other magical powers that could discern his wolf identity; not that the Ministry allowed giants the means to use such magic...

Wolf smirked and made his way over towards Hagrid.

"Firs' years!"

Wolf dodged around a group of smaller children and let his smirk shine coldly down in response to their shocked expressions. He knew intimately what had surprised them so much, after all it was his own body they stared, slack jawed, at.

He had his father's height and was well over six feet, but instead of being lanky like the adolescent pictures he had seen of his mother's various siblings, his thin frame was corded with muscle.

But the oddest and most astonishing feature was on his head.

He was a genetic anomaly, born only because of his parents combined magic and his own sheer will to live, even as an unborn fetus. Part of the anomaly had resulted in his strength in the pack at only sixteen but the other had manifested on his human form.

Exactly half of his body hair was the white blond of his father and the other half was the blood red of his mother. It was as if a line had been drawn from the top of his head, down the middle of his nose, and through his belly button. His left arm and leg were blond and his right, red. This included the hair on his head. But the oddest part was that the line where the two colors merged was a thick pink stripe of hair.

Wolf had shaved both sides of his head smooth with a spell and had left only the pink stripe to grow into a mohawk. It was frightfully clear that these sheltered children had never seen a hairstyle like his before.

"Hello," Wolf called as he reached Hagrid. "Technically this is my first year here but I'm much older than the rest of the first years. Where should I go?"

The half-giant looked down at Wolf and smiled through his shaggy beard. "Now don' worry. You take tha' carriages an' someone'll be waitin' for you. Firs' years, over 'ere!"

Wolf nodded and turned to follow the rest of the students around the bend in the road to where the carriages waited.

He was glad that he was downwind of the thestrals because they would have smelt him and gone wild with fear. Wolf climbed into an empty carriage and closed the door behind him.

The thestral took off and Wolf closed his eyes.

"I need to hide everything from these people," he mumbled to himself. "I am here for one purpose only and revealing my parentage and my wolf to these incompetent fools would only hinder the completion of my goals."

He pictured a room in his mind, one with walls made of cement and a door that could be locked behind him. In that room he shoved all the knowledge of his other self; everything that he did not want someone with the abilities of Legilimency to see should they decide to scan his mind.

He closed the door and covered it with mental chains and a padlock before opening his eyes.

When the carriage stopped he dismounted and made his way with the other students into the Entrance Hall.

He had just stepped through the giant wooden doors when a mousy brown haired woman appeared at his side.

"You must be Wolf," she said with a smile that did not quite hide the shock in her eyes as she gestured for him to follow her down a side hallway. Her eyes skimmed curiously over his clothes and focused on his hair for a long second in which he could almost see lists of hair dying spells running through her mind. Her eyes finally caught that his uniform shirt was held loosely in his hands so she swallowed whatever caustic reprimand she had on the tip of her tongue and continued her speech.

"Welcome to Hogwarts! I'm Professor Granger-Weasley, of Charms class, and the Deputy Headmistress of this school. Now, Hogwarts is a magical academy for Witches and Wizards. We have four houses, Gryffindor, I'm head of that house, Ravenclaw-"

"I've done my reading," Wolf said rudely. He had no wish to listen to this human prattle on in her know-it-all voice that made his sensitive ears ache. "There is no need for you to reiterate information I already know." He sneered.

She huffed. "I'll have you know that I expect a certain amount of cordiality in my classes. I will give you a reprieve tonight as it is your first day in the school but such behavior will not be excused again!"

She stopped outside of a door that did not block the smell of wet clothes and scared children that filtered from behind it.

"Now, the first years will be sorted first, then I will announce you to the school and you will be sorted into your house. You can take your year placement test tomorrow. If you have any further questions I'm sure that your housemates or your Head of House will be willing to help you."

She opened the door and Wolf waited in the hallway while she gave a speech to the gathered eleven year olds. He followed silently as they made their way back into the Entrance Hall and waited just outside of the doors to the Great Hall when the first years were led into the room.

A ripped old hat sang a song and Granger-Weasley; he had to sneer at her name; pulled out a list and began to call out names. One by one the first years were sorted. He started, surprised, when _Weasley, Molly _was sorted into Gryffindor and watched curiously as his younger cousin joined a large group of red haired children at the Gryffindor table.

Apparently he had relatives that his mother did not know about. It was something to include in his next letter at least.

"Now, students, before I give you to our Headmistress for announcements I have a very special student to introduce to you all!"

Wolf sneered at her chipper tone and stalked into the room. His smirk grew at the shocked gasps and all eyes followed him as he stalked between the tables towards Granger-Weasley.

He was wearing a skintight black shirt with a pink skull (the same color as his hair) pulled tight across his hard chest. He still held the white uniform shirt in one hand but his current shirt combined with the non-regulation black jeans and his mohawk was enough to shock the entire hall.

"This is Wolf…" she paused and glanced down at the roll of parchment in her hands for the rest of his name.

"My name is Wolf," he said coldly as he walked up to where she was standing. "I don't have a last name."

He settled gracefully on the three-legged stool and put the disgusting hat on his head. The brim barely touched the tip of his hair when a rip opened and shouted, "Slytherin!"

A table on the far side of the room clapped politely for him and, judging by their green ties and the snake adorning their robes, they were the Slytherins.

Wolf glided over to the table and took a seat in the middle across from a boy who looked like the leader of the group.

"Well, that was exciting!" An old woman stood in the center of the Professors table and addressed the hungry crowd. "Welcome first years, welcome Wolf, and welcome all returning students, to another year at Hogwarts. I am your Headmistress, Professor McGonagall. Now, I have a couple announcements. Mr. Filch has an extensive list of items that are banned from use in the corridors hanging on his office door. Included on that list are all items sold by Weasley's Wizard Wheezes." She smiled tightly around the room and Wolf wondered how she was still alive. He knew that Witches had a longer lifespan than regular humans but that still did not explain why a woman who had been ancient when his parents were in school was still alive and teaching now.

"The Forbidden Forest is still forbidden and is highly dangerous so please refrain from entering the trees. The centaurs are still not welcoming to humans." Her reproving glare caught on the huddle of red heads at the Gryffindor table.

"Professor Lupin, your Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, is out tonight as it is the day after the full moon, but will be teaching tomorrow as planned."

How weak, Wolf scoffed. A werewolf should welcome the change. If the human embraced the wolf, the wolf would not hurt the human body, rather, the wolf would give the human body advantages it would not normally have. Also, the wolf would never debilitate the human body so much that the human would have to spend time recuperating. Obviously this "Professor Lupin" had fallen to the stereotypes this society shoveled on werewolves. It was a wonder that he was allowed to teach with all of the negative stigma that surrounded his kind influencing parents against him.

Food appeared on the tables and Wolf filled his plate with enough to feed three normal people. He was hungry and if he didn't keep his human side fed, his wolf would try to take over to hunt.

"So you're Wolf." The leader of the Slytherins said slowly.

"That is my name," Wolf answered with a sneer.

"My name is Nott, Theodore Nott, after my father."

"I'm Violet Nott!" A first year piped up from next to her brother. "You might have heard of our parents? Pansy and Theodore Nott?"

Wolf lifted his blonde eyebrow and sneered. "I've never had the displeasure."

"Who are your parents?" A big, hulking boy said from the other side of the Nott boy. "I'm Goyle, Timothy Goyle. My parents are Gregory and Millicent Goyle. Purebloods of course," he said stupidly.

Wolf sneered. "My parents are none of your concern. Nor do I care whether your parents were pure bloods or pigs, although I suspect the latter is true."

A black haired boy with snapping green eyes laughed from further down the table. "Thank you so much for saying that. I've been waiting for someone to tell them off for years! I'm Cody Greengrass."

Nott snorted. "He's a useless waste of space. His mother was a whore who got herself pregnant without a husband."

Cody just brushed away the bridle with long practiced ease. "Yeah, my Mum's still single and she's happy that way. These idiots care more about outward appearances and reputations than the person themselves. Ignore them."

Wolf smiled over to Cody. "Thanks for the advice." He glanced down the table and saw that a couple of people were nodding in agreement with Cody while others, the Nott siblings included, where glaring at the dark haired boy.

Wolf filled his plate with seconds and continued to eat. He watched the table as he ate and saw that it was pretty cleanly divided. The seats near the middle were all filled with students who supported Nott and his ideas of purebloods while the seats at both ends were filled with students who either disagreed or didn't care either way.

Cody sat alone. Wolf guessed that it was because the boy was so vocal about his disagreements with Nott and the rest of the house was too afraid of Nott to openly side with Cody.

In fact, the longer Wolf watched Cody eat, the more sure he became that the boy was injured. He was only using his left hand to eat and kept his right arm firmly against his body. Wolf couldn't smell blood or even what exactly was wrong with the arm because of the distance between them and the smells of the food disrupting his nose, but he was sure that he was the only student to notice.

Dessert came and went and the students began to get up from the table.

"Wolf!" The dark skinned Professor he had seen at the staff table called from the doors. Wolf shrugged apologetically at Cody and moved away from him to meet the Professor.

"Welcome to Slytherin." The Professor said with a small smile as he led Wolf down a side passage into the dungeons. "I'm Professor Zabini, Potions, and the Slytherin Head of House. I wanted to finalize your sleeping arrangements before I take you down to your Common Room."

Wolf nodded and followed Zabini into an office in the dungeons.

"Now, I've taken the liberty of placing you in the sixth year dorm since you're sixteen. The exam tomorrow will test your knowledge of magic and your practical skills with a wand. What year of classes you will be taking depends on the results of that test and, unless you wish to switch, you may stay in the sixth year dorm despite the year level of classes you join."

Wolf nodded coolly to Zabini. "I understand Sir."

"Professor Granger-Weasley has also asked that I remind you to wear the required uniform from now on," Zabini sneered hatefully, showing exactly what he thought of the Charms Professor. "Follow me," Zabini finished. "I'll show you to your dorm now."

III

Wolf entered a room with four beds. One had the green curtains pulled shut. Boys getting changed for bed occupied two beds and the last one was empty and had his trunk at the foot.

"I'm Jeremy, that's Prometheus, we call him Buddy," the dark tan skinned boy on the bed nearest the door pointed first to himself then to the other visible boy, a pale skinned, brown haired, chubby boy who was struggling with his night shirt.

Jeremy brushed his dark brown hair out of his eyes and finally pointed to the closed bed. "You've already met Cody. He's a strange one and Nott hates him so be careful."

Wolf nodded. "I'm sure you already know my name." The other boys laughed. "I'm going to tell you right now that I hate curfews so I'm probably going to be spending quite a few nights out of bed."

"Don't worry, we'll make some excuse for you," Buddy said with a slow grin. "As long as you look the other way for our little "indiscretions"." Buddy winked and Jeremy shaped an hourglass figure in the air with his hands while thrusting his hips forward suggestively.

Wolf laughed. "It's a deal." He turned towards the covered bed. "The same goes for you, Cody. I know you're still awake."

There was a rustling of cloth and Cody stuck his dark head through the space in the curtains.

"Sounds good to me." He said softly.

Wolf walked over to Cody's head and whispered softly, "you might was to staunch the bleeding. If it gets any worse the other two might notice. And you should tell me exactly what caused it."

Wolf watched as Cody's eyes grew wide and he quickly slid out of sight again.

It was infuriating to Wolf that he could not place the scent of what caused the wound in Cody's arm. It was familiar but in such a twisted way that he couldn't place it.

With an inward snarl Wolf began to strip off his clothes in preparation for bed. He would find out what was wrong with Cody eventually but he was tired and still jetlagged from his long trip so further investigation would have to wait.

III

Past:

Ginny Weasley looked from at the giant chunk missing in her thigh to the dead creature bleeding at her feet with eyes brimming with tears.

She didn't feel any pain and was ignoring the extensive bleeding. Instead, her mind was still focused on what had happened only a few seconds ago.

A giant wolf had dashed around the corner, had caught sight of her and, before she could point her wand, had taken a bite out of her leg. The Reductor Curse had destroyed the werewolf's skull but the damage had already been done.

A werewolf had bitten Ginny.

How could she survive as a werewolf? How would her family cope?

Ginny felt a cold shiver run down her spine at the last thought. Her family would do the best they could; they loved her and would support her even if she changed into a wild and dangerous animal once a month. But buying one dose of Wolfsbane potion or even just the ingredients, many of which were illegal, cost more than her father made in a month and would tax her family terribly. How could she do that to them?

No, she loved her family too much to force them to suffer because she was a werewolf.

The tears flowed faster as this realization formed into a halfhearted plan. She would run away. Surely she could find somewhere where she would never be found.

Ginny wavered on her feet, both from blood loss and the knowledge that she could never see her family again.

Wouldn't it hurt her family more if she disappeared? What if they thought she had died? That would make them suffer unnecessarily.

Ginny shook her head angrily. Those were weak thoughts from the baby inside of her that was not ready to leave the nest. No, if she wanted to save her family she needed to be strong. She couldn't give in to any other influences.

Voldemort was dead; she had seen Harry kill him. Right now she could see her mother and father hugging the twins. Bill and Charlie were supporting Ron as her youngest older brother had shattered his leg while diving in front of a curse meant for Hermione. Even Percy was there.

Her family had plenty of support. Together they would survive if she disappeared. They would always wonder what had happened to her but they would survive. It would definitely be best if she left.

Ginny lifted her wand in a leaden fist.

"Take me away to somewhere safe; somewhere my family would never find me," she whispered a soft prayer to her wand before twisting on her uninjured leg and Apparating.

She was in complete blackness. The air was being squeezed out of her lungs and the pressure grew the longer she hurtled through Apparition space. Ginny struggled to find air and knew that she was suffocating. Finally she popped back into the real world and as the bright light hit her eyes she fainted.

III

"You'll survive," were the first two words she heard once her eyes were fully open. Ginny blinked dimly up at the hospital green colored ceiling before slowly turning her head towards the voice.

"I'm Ben." He was sitting on a chair at her bedside and smiled gently at her. His long russet colored hair, a shade so unassociated with the Weasley family orange that Ginny hardly noticed the color, was pulled back into a messy tail at the base of his skull. His dark brown eyes gently welcomed her.

"You gave me quite the scare, appearing out of mid-air like that. Plus you got blood all over my kitchen!" He laughed and swung his legs in the chair like an excited child. Ginny's stomach growled and Ben laughed again. "So you're hungry Wolf-girl? Makes sense since you've been unconscious for over two weeks. Wait right here. I'll go get some soup for you." He jumped up from his chair and scampered out of the room.

Ginny's mind slowly began to focus on more than the fact that the wall color was horrid. Ben was gone for a full minute before she realized that he had called her "Wolf-girl". How had he known?

She struggled to sit up and although she felt terribly weak she was finally able to manage it.

Ben bounced back into the room, carefully balancing a tray with a brimming bowl of soup on it in his hands. Somehow he managed not to spill a drop.

"Oh! You were able to sit up by yourself. You're recovering faster than I thought." Ben helped her sit up the rest of the way while balancing the tray with one hand before gently placing the tray in her lap.

Ginny grimaced at the yellow broth with a piece of soggy bread floating in it but slowly picked up her spoon and began to eat. After the fifth spoonful her hand was shaking too badly to hold the spoon.

"Here, Wolf-girl. Let me help." Ben gently plucked the spoon from her grasp and helped her finish the rest of the bowl.

"Ben," Ginny slurred tiredly, "why do you call me Wolf-girl?"

Ben smiled softly, "no questions for right now. I'll tell you more when you wake up."

Three days passed in much the same fashion. Ben would be there when she woke, would help her to the bathroom, she would eat, and then she would fall asleep from exhaustion.

She was able to eat the entire bowl without Ben's help by the fourth day but fell asleep just as quickly.

It wasn't until the sixth day that Ginny was strong enough to stay awake after eating.

"Ben, please." Ginny looked up at the man. "See, I'm awake. I'm feeling much better, thank you. Now will you answer my questions?"

Ben looked indecisive so Ginny pouted. He finally gave in.

"All right, Ginny," Ben sighed. "Let me tell you what I know, then you can ask any remaining questions you have."

He waited for Ginny's nod before continuing.

"My name is Ben and I'm the Alpha Wolf for the werewolf pack in this town. I know you're a werewolf because I can smell it on you. I could tell the second you showed up in my kitchen."

"Alpha Wolf?" Ginny asked softly. She was beginning to get tired again but didn't want Ben to see because he would stop his explanation.

Ben groaned and rubbed his forehead with his fist. "You're one of them, then?" He asked with a grimace.

"Them?" Ginny asked.

"What he means, Weasley, is that you live under the control of the Ministry of Magic where werewolf society has been destroyed and then warped into the diseased creation of fear the Ministry portrays it as."

Ginny whipped her head around and gasped. A tall, white-blonde haired boy sneered at her from the doorway. His grey eyes snapped towards Ben.

"I've had enough with making chicken broth. She's obviously awake so I want to make steaks…raw steaks." He licked his lips.

"Malfoy?" Ginny breathed angrily but exhaustion was slowly creeping up and it was becoming difficult to keep her eyes open no matter how hard she fought.

"Shhhh, go to sleep, Ginny. We'll talk again in the morning." Ben gently pulled the covers up to her chin before shooing Malfoy out the door.

Yes, they would certainly talk when she woke up again, Ginny thought before succumbing to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Wolf Lord

Chapter Two

By Mell8

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_A werewolf comes into being when a person is bitten by another werewolf. Once this happens, the person must learn to manage the condition. Modern potion-making has come up with a draught called Wolfsbane Potion which controls some of the worst effects of the condition (PA18). Wolfsbane Potion is quite difficult to make, even for fully qualified wizards, and is said to have a rather disgusting taste (PA8). Nothing will completely cure a werewolf, unfortunately._

_A werewolf when transformed is a fearsome beast indeed. All trace of human awareness is gone and the werewolf will attack any witch or wizard, including the werewolf's best friends. This transformation is triggered when the moon is full, although there is some evidence that a werewolf who is taking a regular regimen of Wolfsbane Potion will not transform until the moonlight actually strikes him._

_--Taken from the Harry Potter Lexicon on Werewolves. _

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Present:

Wolf looked down at the test in front of him and snorted. "Question One: Which end of a wand do you hold when casting spells? Question Two: Are the wand movements for the Levitation charm, Flick and Swish, or, Swish and Flick?"

Wolf groaned and banged his head on the table. He flipped to the last question at the end of the test and sighed in relief. This stuff was seventh year material and was actually worth his consideration. He slowly began filling out the answers but with a normal pen, not those damnable quills and ink the rest of the school used. He purposely got enough answers wrong so he would get into advanced N.E.W.T. level sixth year classes instead of seventh year as he worked his way backwards through the test.

When Wolf got to number one he wrote, "preferably the end that won't cause me bodily harm, stupid!" before tossing the Charms test across the room where it landed in a heap.

Wolf pulled the next test, Defense Against the Dark Arts, towards him and began filling in answers about spells and counter curses and the second section about animals. He could easily fill in the information about vampires and werewolves. In fact, the test was so easy that Wolf almost forgot to prune out the seventh year questions.

He did the same for Transfiguration, Potions, Herbology and then grudgingly began to fill out star charts and rune arrangements. On his History of Magic test he wrote, "I don't need to learn this crap," and tossed it off with the Charms test.

An hour and a half after he entered the room, Wolf finished. He had at least another hour to wait until a Professor would come to check on his progress.

He leaned back in his chair and began to doodle on his arm. A while later he had a finished picture of a wolf howling at the full moon on the flesh of his forearm and was decidedly bored.

Wolf rocked backwards on his chair and whined in the high-pitched sound that only a canine could make. He wanted to shift into his furry skin and run around the castle. There were so many smells to learn, so many nooks and crannies to discover, and so much room to run without crossing the path of a human!

His legs itched with need and Wolf whined again. He stood and paced the room, fighting to control his wolf. He had changed on the full moon two days ago so his wolf should be placated but the long plane ride and the new surroundings had woken up its curiosity.

Tonight then, when all his roommates were asleep, he would go for a quick run around the castle and grounds. He sent that reassurance inward where his wolf was pacing under his skin and it grudgingly calmed. The human was the more dominant creature in their relationship and while the wolf could heckle and pace, Wolf was in control.

He had finally decided to just leave and return to his dorm when the worst possible person to meet up with in a lonely room pushed the door open.

Professor Lupin strode in and froze in place the second Wolf's scent reached his nose. He shook himself with a grimace and forced what was undoubtedly his wolf back before beginning to gather Wolf's tests.

"These will be scored by tonight. You should expect your schoolbooks to arrive at breakfast next morning." Lupin looked up, caught Wolf's eyes for half a second before immediately lowering them back to Wolf's shoulders.

Wolf held back his own wolf's reaction to the impertinence of this lesser cub. How dare a mere pup pretend to be his equal!

Lupin must have felt some of what Wolf was fighting to suppress because his back unconsciously curled inward. If he had been in wolf form, Lupin would have been groveling on the ground with his tale between his legs.

With more effort than Wolf thought ought to be necessary he suppressed the angry reaction from his wolf. What was it that made it so difficult to control his wolf? He had never had a problem like this since he was a cub himself but as soon as he had stepped onto the grounds of Hogwarts his wolf had been fighting him.

With an inward start Wolf realized what was wrong: Hogwarts.

The castle was immersed in magic and his wolf was made of magic. One was feeding the other while his human side remained the same. But so far he had been winning against the wolf so it wasn't entirely a dangerous situation.

"You have the rest of the afternoon free," Lupin said shakily. "Do you need me to show you back to your House Common Room?"

"No," Wolf sneered, his anger that a lesser wolf dared to meet his eyes in challenge had not lessened at all. "I'll be fine."

Lupin gulped and inwardly shook himself before hurriedly rushing out of the room. Wolf sneered at the Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor's back and could inwardly feel the wolf's lip curl away from his teeth in a silent growl of disapproval.

Lupin had been a werewolf for longer than Wolf had been alive. Even without any training he should have gotten at least a semblance of control. Instead, the human was barely in control normally and the wolf was in control during the full moon. It would be laughable if it weren't so dangerous. Now Wolf understood why the Ministry of Magic had to put up so many sanctions against werewolves. If only the Ministry hadn't forced the werewolves to disband their packs. Then werewolves would hardly be dangerous; at least not any more dangerous than a mad human with a wand; and the Ministry would not need to take such a hard hand concerning them.

Wolf smirked as he walked down the corridors to the dungeons. As soon as he integrated himself into society here, things would be changing.

III

Wolf walked into his dorm room to find Buddy and Jeremy crowded around Cody's bed. There was blood on the floor and across one wall. As Wolf watched, Buddy jumped onto the bed and tried to hold down a struggling and bleeding Cody.

"Quick! Get Pomfrey!" Buddy yelled then grunted as Cody's writhing foot caught him in the stomach.

Jeremy made to rush from the room but Wolf grabbed his wrist to stop him. That smell assaulted his nose again; so familiar yet so twisted.

And suddenly Wolf knew what it was.

"Buddy! Get away from the bed! NOW!" Wolf rushed forward and flung his chubby roommate away.

"Wolf? What's going on?" Jeremy asked softly. He was still by the door, posed to rush and get help.

"Werewolves can change their form outside of the full moon if they are powerful enough." Wolf answered gently. "Someone must have pushed Cody to the edge of his control. He's trying to shift."

"Werewolves!" Buddy gasped in a shocked voice. "But- but they're dangerous. Why would they let a werewolf into the school?"

Wolf ignored Buddy, quickly climbed on top of Cody, and caught his flailing, clawed fists in his hands. He was the Alpha wolf and would be damned if one of his wolves lost control while he was around.

Wolf captured both fists into one hand and used his free hand to grip and hold Cody's chin. He moved slowly so he wouldn't startle Cody as he gently pushed his cool forehead against Cody's burning one.

"Calm, wolf." Wolf whispered in both his human voice and with the magic of his wolf. "You are safe, calm."

Slowly Cody stopped struggling. His chest was heaving for air and his eyes still flashed wolf yellow but his human side was coming back under control.

Wolf moved off him and sat on the side of the bed. He kept one hand on Cody's shoulder and continued to let his wolf send calm through their connection.

"How'd you do that?" Jeremy whispered. He had moved from the door to help Buddy up off the floor where Wolf had flung him in his haste.

"Why aren't you running for Pomfrey or Zabini…or even Lupin?" Wolf answered back tiredly.

"Because you obviously have everything under control." Buddy answered with a smirk. "Besides, Slytherins bond together against the world. We help you out, you help us out, and we all get along."

"Ah," Wolf nodded. "So our secret will stay in this dorm." He caught both Jeremy and Buddy with a look that could stop his father in his tracks.

"Slytherins are also known for doing everything possible to keep our skins in one piece." Buddy laughed nervously. "While before it was safer for us to get help, now it's safer to let you handle this." He grinned with Jeremy. "Besides, you're both our friends. It isn't right to turn in a friend."

Wolf smiled back. "Good, because that means I don't have to kill either of you." He said it in a joking manner but his stoic face belayed just how serious he was.

"Like Buddy said," Jeremy smirked as he walked over to his trunk to pull out his sleepwear, "anything to save our skins."

"I know," Wolf rubbed his eyes with a tired hand. "My father was a Slytherin." He snapped his mouth shut as soon as he realized what he had said.

"That doesn't leave the room either." He growled.

"Of course," Buddy said gently. "You just make sure that Cody doesn't get worse. In the morning we're going to have a talk about what the hell just happened. Right now I'm too tired and you're too busy. I'm content to wait."

Wolf nodded and turned to look at Cody. Outwardly he was calm but Wolf could smell the fear on his skin.

"Your secret is safe with us," Wolf said gently. "I'm a werewolf too and I want other people to know that even less than you do." Wolf felt Cody's fear fade. "Go to sleep, Cub. We'll talk in the morning."

Wolf waited until he was sure Cody was asleep before heading to his own bed for the night. His wolf could wait until tomorrow night to explore the castle. Right now he was exhausted.

III

The morning dawned bright, cool, and to Professor Zabini hovering in the doorway.

"Wolf," he said as soon as he saw that Wolf was awake. "I have your class schedule and your books. If you'll come with me to pick them up in my office?"

"Yeah," Wolf said sleepily. "Lemme just get some clothes on."

He quickly pulled on yesterday's jeans and a black band shirt before following Zabini out of the room. Buddy gave him a nod of understanding as he left. They would talk later.

"You've already done a good job hacking off Professor Granger-Weasley, Wolf. If you keep refusing to wear the required uniform she might start taking points or giving detentions."

"But since I'm in your house," Wolf said slyly, "technically you can administer my detentions…"

Zabini laughed. "You remind me of… Never mind. Just be warned, she's the one who scored your tests and was quite angry with them. She said you refused to even attempt the History of Magic exam, almost had you joining the first year class for that until McGonagall stepped in and reminded her that you were a sixth year student and allowed to choose which classes you wanted to take. Then when she read the answers you put down for her test, oh was she angry." Zabini laughed. "She also said that it seemed like you got some seventh year questions wrong on purpose." Zabini looked sharply at Wolf to gauge his reaction.

Wolf just shrugged. "How could she tell?"

"She's considered to be the smartest Witch to ever graduate from Hogwarts." Zabini sneered. "Besides, after the war she spent a long time working in the Auror office. She knows how to sniff out a lie."

"I'll just have to be more careful around her then." Wolf said as he followed his Head of House into his office.

"Yes, that would be a good idea. I don't know what you're hiding, Wolf. And I don't want to know," Zabini added quickly at Wolf's sharp look. "But Granger's always been good at finding the answers to difficult questions—so be careful."

Wolf smiled his thanks as he bent down to pick up his stack of books off the floor.

The dormitory was empty when Wolf stopped by to drop off the books he wouldn't need for the day but he did not feel like joining the rest of the students for breakfast. He had too much to be thinking about right now anyways.

He was losing his cool too quickly. He had only been here two days and there were already people who knew about his other nature. Then, as if that wasn't enough, he had been fool enough to let it slip that his father had attended Hogwarts.

He snarled at himself and took off to stalk the hallways to get a little energy out.

Granger-Weasley was another threat, a really strong one. He remembered some of the stories his parents used to tell about her, Harry Potter, and Ron Weasley. She had been brilliant as a first year even though she was only a Muggleborn. Now she had extensive training and years of experience. While he would hardly lay low and follow the rules, he would need to make doubly sure that she did not have any reason to go digging into his past.

Then there was Zabini. He was a nice person and had been close friends with his father when they were in school together. He could probably even be trusted if it was necessary, but Wolf hoped that it never would be necessary.

Plus, Lupin could always suddenly wise up and listen to his wolf for once. Lupin's wolf could tell him why he felt like groveling at Wolf's feet.

There were so many ways this plan could go wrong before he was even able to start.

Wolf turned another corner and stopped short. His nose figured out what his ears were hearing quickly; saltwater mixed with the distinctive tinge of sadness. Wolf debated whether he should move forward and figure out who was crying or run away and save himself from having to deal with another person's trauma.

He breathed in again through his nose and swore. His feet began moving forward almost before his brain processed what he smelled.

Tears, yes, but also a familiar scent of a girl. She was human, unlike his mother and his sisters, but she still smelled like them.

He rounded another corner and found a small girl crying in a doorway. Her red hair was distinctive against the grey stone, as were her freckles and tear stained pale skin.

"Molly, right?" Wolf asked gently. "Molly Weasley?"

She jumped and hurriedly dried her eyes on a sleeve even as she gave the slightest of nods.

"Can you tell me what's wrong?" Wolf bent down so he could be face level with her.

She hiccupped once before blushing. He could visibly see her take a stranglehold on her emotions and shut them away. She was so strong and so much like his own family that he couldn't help but smile and offer her a hand up from the cold ground.

"Jamie, James Potter, told me that Potions was here." She held up a bit of parchment with a hand-drawn map on it. He glanced at it and grimaced. The map was correct…if she had really been trying to get into the locked third floor corridor.

"But I'm lost," her eyes welled up again and again she fought and succeeded to remain calm. She took his hand and found her feet with more grace than most eleven year olds had.

"I'll take you to Potions." He turned them down the hallway and began to lead her to the dungeons. "But only if you tell me what you're going to do to get back at Potter for sending you in the wrong direction on purpose."

"Get back at him?" She sounded shocked. "Why would I want to do that?"

Wolf smirked down at her. She was innocent but he could feel her spark. All he had to do was give her a push and she would fan into a bright flame.

"Do you have any siblings at home?" Wolf asked.

"Yeah, two older brothers!" She chirped but she also gave him a confused look about the sudden change in conversation. "I also have so many cousins, including Jamie, and they might as well all be my brothers too."

"And I'm assuming that as the only girl you get pranks played on you a lot?" Wolf continued gently.

"Yeah," she snarled. "Uncle Fred and Uncle George keep giving hair color changing potions to Joey so my hair always gets turned blue or pink."

"You don't let Joey get away with changing your hair, do you?"

"No, I usually give him a Canary Crème or let off a dungbomb in his room, 'though not as often as I'd like because Uncle Charlie usually gets stuck with cleaning it up."

"Exactly!" Wolf smiled. "That's what I mean, you get Joey back for dying your hair so why can't you get Potter back for giving you wrong directions?"

"But this isn't home!" She cried, shocked that he would suggest something like that. "There're rules here. I could get in trouble!"

"Then we will have to make sure not to get caught," Wolf said with an evil grin.

She seemed to digest this for a moment before nodding and giving a muted echo of his grin. "But how?"

Wolf turned them down the last corner to the dungeons and was suddenly aware that he was late to class too. Still, it was important to teach his cousin how to survive against such odds. His mother had learned because of the war against Voldemort but had only really come out of her shell with his father's help. Molly would hopefully never have to grow up dealing with war but now she would have him to teach her how to be bad without getting caught.

"I'm assuming that Jamie is a Gryffindor?" Wolf asked as they stopped outside the closed classroom door.

She nodded. "There isn't a single Weasley who has not been in Gryffindor." She said proudly. "And Jamie might as well be a Weasley!"

"Then I'll bet he doesn't like Slytherins either." He didn't wait for her nod but continued with his explanation. "I know a potion that will turn his skin green and his hair sliver. I can have it done by tonight but it will be up to you to get him to drink it at dinner. Do you think you could do that?" It wouldn't take him more than five minutes to whip it up.

She looked determined and excited and gave a strong evil smirk of her own.

Wolf opened the classroom door for her and held it open so she could walk in. All eyes turned towards her and Wolf smiled when he saw that her back was straight and she glared back unflinchingly. She was growing a backbone and Wolf had no doubts that she would be a force to be reckoned with in the future.

Zabini caught Wolf's eyes with a questioning look. "Do you need something Wolf?"

"Sorry to interrupt, Professor, but Weasley was lost so I thought I would help her find her class." Wolf nodded and began to close the door.

"If you wait one moment I'll get you a pass for Charms. It wouldn't do to give Professor Granger-Weasley another reason to want to give you detention." They shared a smirk.

Wolf entered the Charms classroom over twenty minutes late and was happy to see that that way he sauntered over to her desk, dropped the pass, and lazily walked over to an empty seat next to Cody angered her.

"As I was saying," the bushy haired Professor gritted out as she fought her glare, "there are numerous ways to change an inanimate object into an animate one but there are much fewer to change an animate object into an inanimate. Since this is review from last year, today we will also be learning how to cast these spells without needing to speak. I know that you will also be going over this in Defense Class but a bit of extra study has never hurt anyone!"

Wolf toned her out as she continued to drone on about silent spells and their difficulties. Once the boring class ended Wolf followed a chattering Cody down to potions. He could feel Cody's anxiety so he let the boy natter on aimlessly.

Potions required that he pay at least a little attention if he didn't want his cauldron to explode. He also took some time to take some ingredients for the color-changing potion he was making for Molly.

He finished the assignment for class early and took the last five minutes to make the potion and to write up the directions so Molly could make it herself in the future.

"So you're in advanced Newt level classes too?" Cody asked as the class ended. Wolf stayed behind to help his friend clean up.

"Yeah, how many Newt's are you taking?" Wolf answered.

"All the main subjects, plus Ancient Runes. I want to be an Auror and they rarely let Slytherins into their school. I need top marks to even be considered." His excitement deflated quickly as soon as they stepped into the corridor. "But of course, they don't let animals be Aurors either."

Wolf growled. "Werewolves are not animals. This Ministry has destroyed the entire culture and has turned society against us. The wolf can be a great thing."

"You don't understand," Cody almost sobbed. "Lupin had to get a letter signed by Harry Potter himself saying that he wasn't dangerous and, as long as he took Wolfsbane potion, wouldn't be a risk to anyone. And the school board almost refused to hire him.

"Harry Potter is like a god in our world but not even he is powerful enough to erase all the misgivings about having a werewolf for a teacher. Lupin is a great teacher but every year he gets fired and only gets rehired when the board can't find anyone else to fill his position. And that's all because he's a werewolf! They don't do that to the normal teachers. Imagine trying to get a more important job like an Auror? Even Harry Potter couldn't get Lupin into the Auror Academy.

"How can you say that being a werewolf is good with all that fighting against you?"

Wolf just smiled softly. "Close your eyes." He said and waited until Cody finished glaring and shut his eyes. "Take a deep breath through your nose."

Cody peaked open one eye and glanced suspiciously at his friend but he took a deep breath. "Yeah, so?" He said finally.

Wolf smirked again and called on his wolf. His wolf reached out and into Cody's body and found the cub that had not woken yet. He gently brushed against it, waking it just enough that it sent some power into Cody. Cody gasped at the feeling of something huge and powerful stretching underneath his skin and shut his eyes.

"Now breathe again," Wolf whispered. Cody did not hesitate this time. He took one breath, then another before slowly exhaling. He kept breathing in and out and a small but confused smile lit on his face.

"Can you sort though the smells?" Wolf said gently.

"They're so many," he gasped out. "I can smell all the students who just walked through here. I can smell the food in the Great Hall and someone spilled a bit of the potion we just made of the floor just along here."

"Smell the castle, the magic," Wolf directed. "Go deeper, past what's on the surface."

"You smell like the woods and…like me?"

"The wolf inside always recognizes kin."

"Then Lupin-"

"He has never bothered to smell with his wolf's nose." Wolf sneered. "He'll never notice."

"Do you smell all this all the time?"

Wolf laughed. "That and so much more. There are five senses, plus the metaphysical sense, and the wolf enhances them all."

"That's amazing! Can you imagine what the Aurors could do against dark wizards if they could smell like this? Help me try another one, what about sight?"

"Wait a bit, Cody. You should really wait until after your first full moon when your wolf has fully melded with your body. Right now you're borrowing my power."

"Oh," he looked disappointed for a moment but then surprise took over on his face. "I never thought I'd be excited for the full moon! Where do you get Wolfsbane potion?"

Wolf growled. "That potion is only for the weak willed wolves or the untrained. I'm neither and I will be training you."

They entered the Great Hall together and took a seat across from Buddy and Jeremy.

"We have a free period next," Buddy said softly. "Do you?"

Wolf nodded and Cody echoed him.

"Good, we'll meet up in our dorm once lunch is over."

"Hey, whore child!" Theodore Nott's voice rang down the table. Cody flinched and sucked in a deep, angry breath even as he ignored the other Slytherin.

"Greengrass! I need you to do some of my homework for me." Goyle and Nott laughed. Wolf swore. He could feel Cody's ire rising and it was waking his wolf. Werewolves were especially susceptible to emotions, particularly anger, and had to learn to control them in order to be able to control the wolf. Cody was close to losing himself.

"I'm not going to do your homework for you, bastard," Cody snarled. Wolf quickly called on his wolf and brushed his shoulder against Cody's. He sent a calming wave to his friend and watched in relief as Cody settled down and his wolf went back to sleep.

"Technically, you're the bastard," Violet Nott giggled with a group of equally vapid girls.

Cody was calm now but still sent a look of pure venom towards both Notts. "At least my parents weren't Death Eaters."

A loud gasp rang down the Slytherin table and Cody was barely fast enough to put up a shielding charm against the painful curses that were sent his way.

"What is going on here!" Wolf and Cody flinched and Nott hurriedly hid his wand under the table. "It's the second day of school and you're already dueling, Mr. Greengrass, Mr. Nott? I will be speaking to your head of house about this! And ten points each from Slytherin!"

Cody sneered down at the table while Granger-Weasley surveyed the Slytherin table with an unconscious curl of her lip.

"And another ten points from Slytherin for not wearing the uniform, Mr. Wolf." She added after letting her previous words sink in.

"Screw you," Wolf grumbled under his breath.

"Excuse me?"

Wolf looked up and glared right at her. His piercing gray eyes didn't blink and he was gratified when she averted her eyes to look at his ear instead.

"My name is Wolf, not Mr. Wolf or any other appellations of that." He still hadn't blinked and his glare intensified. It was certainly interesting to have a dominance fight with a human. Usually he was fighting other wolves that knew what the little signs of body language he was sending out meant. Even his own mother would be extra cautious if she had to approach him when his wolf was glaring as strongly as his was.

"And another ten points for your impertinence, Wolf." She said in a strong voice even as she backed away. Apparently humans had enough animal left in them to let her understand that getting in a fight with him would be deadly.

Wolf focused his eyes back at his plate once she had turned away in defeat and took a calming breath. His ears followed her receding footsteps even as he picked up his fork and speared his meat.

"Who is that boy?" He heard her ask.

To his horror he heard McGonagall answer. "I've been looking into it since I received his letter asking to come to this school. So far I haven't been able to find anything but if you give me a few more weeks…"

"I'll begin my own search as well," Granger-Weasley added as he heard her chair scrape as she pulled it in.

"Hey, hey!"

Wolf slowly turned his head towards Cody. "Yeah?"

"Ah, you're listening now? Lunch is pretty much over so we're heading up now. You coming?"

"Yeah…" Wolf sent one last, worried look up at the staff table. He would need to mention a possible search from the school to his parents so they could hide themselves just in case.

III

_Hey, _

_I got here all right so stop worrying about the unreliability of Muggle transportation! There's another of our kind, a new one, in my dorm; which means our sources were correct. We've become friendly. Blaise Zabini is my Potions Professor and he's great, especially when compared to Granger-Weasley. She's my Charms Professor and we're not getting along. She's poking around where she shouldn't be poking so be careful back home. Also, you're an Aunt. There are too many boys to count but only one little girl. _

_Say hi to the fuzzy-butts for me and please write back! I want to know how everything's going with the family. _

_Love, _

_Tris_

III

Past:

Draco Malfoy fled for his life. Snape was somewhere, either just behind him or right around the next corner in front of him, Draco wasn't sure exactly where. All he knew was that Dumbledore had just fallen from the tower and Harry Potter was screaming after him.

He rounded another corner and skidded to a stop so he wouldn't tumble head first down the staircase. A spell hit the wall near his head so Draco threw caution into the winds and practically dived down all six flights. His feet pounded across the entrance hall and out the main doors onto the grounds.

Somehow he had made it out of the castle, now all he had to do was get out of school grounds.

"Keep moving!" Snape hissed and shoved him in the back. "Head for the forest, Apparate to your manor."

Draco nodded back breathlessly and took off in a frenzied sprint. He felt more than saw Snape stall behind him and engage someone, probably Potter, with taunts and a few well placed curses. It bought Draco the time he needed to enter the forest.

He passed through the outer tree line and moved deeper until he could feel the anti-apparition wards thinning. He paused to catch his breath and wait for Snape to catch up.

A stick snapped behind him and Draco turned to rush over to Snape. Instead a pair of bright yellow eyes peered up at him through the underbrush. It was only later that Draco could pierce together what happened.

Snape found him screaming in pain and killed the wolf.

His shoulder was mangled and he couldn't move his fingers. Something was broken and he couldn't breathe.

Snape bent down and grabbed his arm. Draco's screaming increased but he couldn't figure out why. Nothing hurt…he smiled brightly up at Snape and blinked…what was that roaring noise in his ears?...his chest hurt but he couldn't remember how to breathe…

Dimly Draco heard Snape swear then squeezing blackness as he was side-along Apparated.

"Safe," Draco almost made his lips move, almost had the thought to move his lips. "I want to be somewhere safe."

Snape's grip on his arm slipped alarmingly as his blood became a lubricant. Draco went flying away from Snape just milliseconds before Snape snapped back into reality. Draco drifted along, not caring nor noticing that he was slowly suffocating and bleeding to death.

"Safe," he whispered and his lips might have moved that time. With a deafening POP Draco jumped out of Apparition space and into the bright lights of someone's home.

"Holy Shit!"

He heard someone scream but was too far-gone to care. He slipped into the welcome oblivion with a peaceful smile.

He was stiff and achy when he woke and his surroundings gave him little comfort. He was in what was clearly a Muggle's house with electricity and other useless gadgets those helpless creatures used because they weren't gifted with magic.

The door creaked open and a red haired man shuffled in with a tray and a bowl.

"I figured you'd be up today, what with the full moon being tonight and all." The man smiled and put the tray down on a side table.

Draco would have flinched back and said something caustic to the man when he reached forward and touched him, but two things distracted him. The first was the man's casual mention of the full moon as if it would have some significance for Draco. The second was the fact that not only was he alive but his arm was functioning. The man laughed as Draco carefully wiggled fingers that he knew had not been working that last, fateful night at Hogwarts.

"I'm Ben and I'm sure that you've got just as many questions as I do. First, though, I want you to eat something." He finished helping Draco to sit up and put the tray in his lap.

The bowl was filled with broth, a small sliver of an orange vegetable, and something that might have been bits of chicken in another life. It was worse than what his house elves ate! Draco curled his lip and went to knock the tray to the floor.

A loud growl froze him in place as something flinched inside of him.

"Eat it," Ben said in a voice that was more growl than words but it sent Draco scrambling for a spoon. The soup tasted much better than it looked so Draco did not need another prompt from the scary man to eat more.

"Now while you're eating," Ben said softly in a much more controlled voice, "I will start explaining things to you."

Draco hastily nodded and popped another spoonful into his mouth.

"I don't know or care where you're from. All I know is that you were attacked by a werewolf and somehow appeared on my kitchen floor. I had you stitched up and you've been healing here ever since."

He waited until Draco took another spoonful before continuing.

"I'm a werewolf, the Alpha of this pack. That means that my word is law and, as you just found out, if I want you to do something, you do it."

Draco grimaced. That didn't sound like something he would enjoy. He already hated that his father and Voldemort gave him orders and expected them to be followed but now this man could give him the orders and force him to obey! No, he would be doing something to end that.

"Now I'm not stupid enough to abuse my power as Alpha wolf," Ben continued aimlessly, "my second and third would kill me for it."

"Look," Draco said as he spoke for the first time. "I won't have anyone be ordering me about any more."

"Well, that shouldn't be too much of a problem," Ben said with a smile. "Once you've learned all there is to being a werewolf you'll also learn just how much strength you have. If you're strong enough you should be able to fight and overcome my powers. I've felt your strength and you could be an Alpha stronger than me."

Draco sneered. "Werewolves are the stigma of society. I'd rather be dead than change into a werewolf. And I don't give a damn about your power structure or whatever."

Ben laughed. "We'll see what you have to say tomorrow night once you've run on four paws for the first time."

Draco could feel panic creeping up his spine and hurriedly looked for something else to concentrate on. He didn't want to think about being attacked by a werewolf and definitely didn't want to think about turning furry once a month.

"Your cooking is terrible," he said finally. Ben laughed and took the dodge in stride. Draco felt that he probably wasn't the first person Ben had dealt with who was unhappy about being bitten.

"You can cook then," Ben said with a smile.

Draco glared. "I've never cooked anything in my life, I don't plan on starting now."

"You're a spoiled little rich boy!" Ben laughed. "I'll enjoy teaching you how to be human." Draco glowered and Ben laughed harder. "And wolf," he added once he had a little control over his laughter.

Draco growled. It was a strange sound and not one that he had ever made before when he was angry. Draco blinked slowly as he listened to the sounds and notes that melded together to form the growl and almost missed Ben's knowing grin. Draco scowled at turned to look at the wall.

There was a knock on the door and it opened to let in a tiny Asian woman. "Ben-san," she said softly. "The pack is here."

"Thank you Kyoko," Ben said with a smile. "I'll be right there with our newest cub." She nodded and backed out of the room with a smile.

"Who's that?" Draco asked as he pushed the bed covers off his body.

Ben went over to the closet and pulled out a pair of loose sweatpants and a sleeveless T-shirt. He tossed them to Draco who held them at arms length with a sneer of disgust on his face.

"That was my second in command. Don't be fooled by her tiny appearance. She can pick up a car and throw it quite a good distance. And put on the clothes. You'll want something loose and rip-able for when you shift."

"If I knew what a car was that might be more impressive," Draco shrugged and stepped into the pants with a grimace.

Ben looked at him with a confused look on his face. "Where are you from?" He said finally. "Cars are everywhere! I've never met anyone who didn't know what a car was."

"I'm a Wizard." Draco pulled the shirt over his head. "You know, wave a wand and do magic."

Ben looked suitably impressed. "I know people around here who can do magic but none who use wands. Oh yeah! Is this yours?" He pulled out a stick that Draco immediately recognized as his wand. He grabbed it and quickly checked it over for scratches and nicks. He even shot green sparks out of the end to make sure that nothing was damaged inside. He let out a relieved sigh once he was sure that it was okay.

"I guess that proves it," Ben said with a smile. "You can do magic. I think you should leave the wand here, though," he added. "It might get lost in the woods if you take it outside."

Draco nodded and carefully set his wand down on the bedside table before following Ben downstairs.

III

Draco woke slowly as another gust of cold wind scraped along the bare skin on his back. He sat up and closed his arms around his knees to conserve some body heat.

"What happened?" His voice croaked and he cleared his throat a couple times.

He remembered walking down the stairs behind Ben and introducing himself to the pack. Then he remembered being scared as he followed the pack out into the backyard and into the extensive acres of wooded lands Ben owned. Then all he could remember was pain. He could recall the pop of bones breaking and he remembered his skin splitting and then, nothing. His mind was completely blank after that.

"Ah, you're awake!" Draco looked up and blinked as Ben detangled himself from a giant blob of naked bodies curled around each other. 'Okay,' Draco thought, confused. 'The rest of the pack is over there. Why am I alone?'

Ben dropped to the ground next to Draco and threw an arm over his shoulders. He was nude too but Draco didn't care. He curled into his Alpha's warmth and let Ben hold him as Draco let the night before wash away from him.

"What happened?" He asked again and felt Ben laugh next to him.

"Well, you shifted." Ben started with a smile. "At first you were like any other new cub. You had to find your paws and you were sniffing everything." He laughed. "It was cute! Your fur is completely white, by the way."

"What's a cub and why don't I remember any of this?" Draco interrupted.

"A cub is a werewolf who hasn't got control over their wolf yet. It means that when you shift, the wolf is in control and when you're in human form the wolf will try to make you shift so it can take control. You don't remember anything because the wolf was in control. Your human side might as well have been asleep. Once you get control over your wolf you'll start remembering things."

Draco nodded. "So after I was a cute cub, what happened?"

Ben snickered. "Kyoko tried to give you your first lesson on what it meant to be a werewolf. You ignored her and went chasing after a rabbit instead. She ordered you to stop, the same way I ordered you to eat yesterday, and you just growled at her." Ben shook his head and smiled gently. "That was your wolf telling Kyoko that you were more powerful than she was and, well, she didn't take that well."

"That sounds properly ominous," Draco said with a lift of his eyebrow.

"You could say that," another voice called from the mass of bodies. Michael, the third in command, lifted himself out of the pile and walked over to sit on Draco's other side.

"Kyoko attacked," Ben continued. "You're just a puppy so I never would have expected her to do something so drastic. I was unprepared to stop her."

Ben looked embarrassed for a second but Michael picked up the tale. "You wiped the floor with her nose," he chuckled. "You, a puppy, took out the second most powerful werewolf in this country. She wouldn't let any of the other wolves play with you after that which is why you were sleeping alone."

"I stand by what I said earlier," Ben said with a smile. "Once you gain control of your wolf you will be more powerful than me and I'll relinquish the pack to you."

III

A year passed quickly and Draco was very close to controlling his wolf. In truth he was stalling. He didn't really want to have control over other people's lives like an Alpha did, it smacked too much of something Voldemort would do as he was constantly reminded. That particular tattoo transferred over to his wolf form. In the winter his fur was long enough to cover the ugly mark but he could feel the magic emanating off of it now that he was more fully in tune with his wolf.

Apparently Kyoko had tried to attack him three more times in the successive three full moons and while he didn't remember it happening, Michael had filled him in on all of her defeats once they had changed back. She left soon after to find a new pack that she could be Alpha of. Draco was grateful that she left because it meant that he could run with the pack and he could fall asleep in the big pile at the end of the night.

Being a werewolf wasn't as terrible as Draco originally thought and it didn't seem that Voldemort or Dumbledore's friends would be able to find him here.

He was happy to stay as he was until the day that a small, bleeding girl with vivid red hair popped into existence in Ben's kitchen.

"What is this?" Ben swore even as he rushed to the phone to call the werewolf who was also a doctor to hurry over to his house. "Do bleeding cubs keep having to suddenly appear in my kitchen? What am I, a metaphysical puppy magnet?"

But Ben gently lifted the girl into his arms and laid her out on the table so the doctor could work.

Draco gasped as a wand fell out of her limp fingers and hit the ground. His thinking ground to a halt as he refocused his gaze on her red hair.

A Weasley, his mind froze.

"She can't take me back," Draco whispered into the silence that was only punctured by her uneven breathing. "I'll kill her before I let her take me back."

"Lets find out what happened to her before you start planning to kill her." Ben said with a stern look that made Draco's wolf bristle. He quickly suppressed his wolf and nodded to Ben. "Why don't you go buy ingredients for soup," Ben said gently. "She's going to need it when she wakes up and since you hate the canned stuff I make you get to make it from scratch."

Draco grumbled but went to grab his wallet and car keys. "I will be having a long talk with her when she wakes up," Draco growled as he walked out the door.


	3. Chapter 3

Wolf Lord

Chapter Three

By Mell8

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_The werewolf is found worldwide, though it is believed to have originated in northern Europe. Humans turn into werewolves only when bitten. Once a month, at the full moon, the otherwise sane and normal wizard or Muggle afflicted transforms into a murderous beast. Almost uniquely among fantastic creatures, the werewolf actively seeks humans in preference to any other kind of prey. _

_This classification refers, of course, to the werewolf in its transformed state. When there is no full moon, the werewolf is as harmless as any other human. _

--Taken from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander

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Present:

"So as you already know, I'm a werewolf," Cody shrugged uncomfortably and settled onto his bed with a grimace. "I only really figured it out myself." He added more to himself then for the other three occupants of their dorm.

They had decided, mostly because of Wolf's urging, to allow Cody to explain his story first. Wolf had the feeling that their stories were connected and it would be easier for him to tell his side of the story once Cody had spoken.

"So how'd you become a werewolf?" Buddy asked and then pointed to Cody's arm with the carrot stick he was eating in his attempt to lose some weight. "And why won't you stop bleeding?"

"Just a few days ago; actually it was the night before we were to catch the train for Hogwarts. I was out in the woods, I assume it was the night of the full moon, and I got caught outside when the sun was down." He laughed lightly but in a hard, bitter way that made both Buddy and Jeremy wince in sympathy. "I ran into some Muggle wolf hunters who said that there had been a number of animal attacks in the area and they pointed me towards the road where they said it was safer."

Cody stopped and closed his eyes as the painful memories made him shake in remembered fear.

"It- it got me just around the bend in the path…I screamed…my arm, it bit my arm, flung me into a tree…" He took a deep breath and let it out slowly to keep himself from hyperventilating even as tears filled his eyes from remembered pain and fear. "The hunters came and shot it with a Muggle gun," he rushed on in a very fast voice. "It attacked them, tore their throats out, and then limped off. I don't know why it left me alive."

Cody paused to catch his breath and Jeremy fetched him a glass of water from the pitcher on the windowsill. He gratefully took a large gulp of water and coughed to help clear his throat.

"Somehow I got back home because when I woke up I was in my bed and my arm was bandaged up. Then I came to school, and you lot know the rest."

"And the bleeding?" Buddy asked again.

"I can answer that," Wolf said with a grimace. "It's a curse of sorts, I prefer the term defense mechanism to be honest, but humans call it a curse." At his companions continued blank looks Wolf smirked and continued. "A werewolf bite can only be healed by another werewolf. It forces people who have been bitten to seek out another wolf for aid. That way new cubs always have a mentor and no one makes their first change alone."

He smiled at Buddy and reached forward to grab Cody's arm with his inhuman speed. Cody had time to let out a small squeak but the other two were hardly even aware that Wolf had moved at all until after he had Cody's arm firmly in his grasp. Wolf unwound the bandages around Cody's arm with brisk efficiency while his roommates looked on curiously. The flesh underneath wasn't unmarked but it was healed. Cody had the perfect imprint of the werewolf's jaws on his arm in white scar tissue.

"I made sure you were healing last night when I finally realized that the tainted smell I was getting from you was because you had been bitten by an untrained werewolf under the influence of not enough Wolfsbane potion. I had never smelt it before which is why I couldn't figure out why you were bleeding.

"I won't make that error again." He added darkly.

"What scar do you have, Wolf?" Jeremy asked suddenly. "I mean, we've all seen you change your clothes for bed and such but I've never seen a scar as fantastic as Cody's anywhere on your body."

Wolf smiled indulgently. "And that is where I will begin my story." He said as he tossed the discarded bandages into the rubbish bin across the room.

"I don't have a scar because I was never bitten. I was born a werewolf, the first person ever born one. Because of the amount of magic necessary to keep my mother from changing into a werewolf for nine months I was given many advantages most werewolves will never see no matter how powerful they become. I am also, because of my unusual birth and my extra powers, the Wolf Lord. That means that any and all werewolves bow to my authority. I am the ultimate Alpha Werewolf."

He took in all three of his friends' shocked expressions with the cool aplomb of years of going through similar explanations.

"But what're you doing here?" Buddy asked, shocked. His carrot stick lay forgotten at the foot of his bed as he crawled forward to be closer to the story. "You've got a family and I'm guessing that you also have a strong pack to take care of. Why are you at Hogwarts?"

Wolf nodded over at Cody. "Do you remember what Cody's Muggle hunters said about the wolf they were hunting; about the Wolf attacks?" He waited for their nods before continuing. "They were right. I believe that there is a small pack of werewolves that are purposely spending the full moon nights in places where they can attack and hopefully change more humans into werewolves. Then they force these new wolves to join their pack.

"It is my duty, as Wolf Lord, to stop this practice. I left my pack with my father. Right now he's the second most powerful werewolf in the world so it's not really a problem. Then I came here."

"Why didn't you get a job in Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade. You would have much more freedom to search if you weren't tied down at the school." Cody was focusing objectively on the situation and Wolf was impressed with his level headedness. Many wolves, particularly the newer ones, had trouble separating their emotions from their actions. Cody didn't seem to have that problem. Wolf could already tell that once Cody was trained he would be a wolf rivaling Ben's strength. He had almost shifted only a few days after being bitten and already had more control over his actions than even some of the veteran wolves Wolf knew.

"They're specifically trying to attack children," Wolf answered with a growl in his voice. Cody flinched and rolled onto his back, instinctively giving Wolf his vulnerable stomach as if his supine state would alleviate any anger directed at him. It was a purely wolfish gesture of submission and it made Wolf smile. Cody was going to be very strong.

With a snort, Cody rolled back onto his stomach. "I get it! You think that there are kids here at Hogwarts who were bitten like me and you want to help them."

"There's more," Jeremy said slowly as he thought through Wolf's plan.

Wolf nodded. "I do want to help. Every person I stop from joining these renegade wolves is one battle won and one less human turned in the future. But…" he paused. He really didn't want to tell them this and cursed Jeremy's perceptiveness. This was the one bit that could send them off to tell Headmistress McGonagall.

"I-" he stopped again and looked searchingly at Buddy and Jeremy. They nodded slowly to show they understood just how much he was taking them into his confidence. Cody grinned and reached across their beds to poke him in the shoulder to egg him on.

"Werewolves in this society are a- a stigma." Wolf started slowly. He hated that his voice sounded weak and that he had stuttered. He also hated indecision, so, with a worried inward sigh, Wolf decided to tell them and deal with whatever consequences ensued.

"And that isn't right." He said firmly in a much stronger voice. "I want to find a way to fix that. I was thinking about sending some really strong Alpha wolves here to fight and take control of the packs but then I realized that the laws your Ministry has passed don't permit any packs to form in the first place. Werewolves have to be alone or the Ministry gets nervous and sends them to prison for being dangerous. My goal is to form one pack here; mostly with the other children I find who have already been bitten. I want to find an Alpha wolf to take control of the pack from me so I can go out and find other wolves and bind them together in a new pack before finding another Alpha so I can move on again. I want to do all of this without the Ministry noticing and, once I have at least five stable packs, send those awful anti-werewolf laws back to the Dark Ages when they were first written."

Buddy nodded but said, "plans don't always work out the way you want you know."

For the first time Wolf looked like the teenager he really was as his mouth twisted to the side in a grumpy grimace reminiscent of any sixteen year old in a snit.

"My father said that too," he grumped. They laughed at Wolf's obvious reluctance to listen to his parents "sage" advice and remembered times when they had sported similar attitudes, much to their later chagrin.

"Who are your parents anyway?" Jeremy asked, genuinely curious about the people who had worked so hard to have one child.

Wolf just smiled and let the now uncomfortable silence grow. He was going to be late to Transfiguration class so he stood and began to gather his books for the afternoon. The other three let the subject drop and stood to get ready to leave too.

"Hey," Cody said finally. "I'll help you search for more werewolves. It shouldn't be too hard to find bleeding students."

"I'll stop by the hospital wing on my way down to dinner," Jeremy smiled. "There might be someone there who has a wound that won't stop bleeding."

"I can ask my sister in Ravenclaw," Buddy added. Jeremy snorted. "Hey! I can be subtle. She won't realize a thing." He shoved Jeremy into the wall and rushed from the room laughing. Jeremy swore lightheartedly and quickly followed after his friend as threats of retribution fell from his lips.

"What happens if a person who's been bitten doesn't find another werewolf before the full moon?" Cody asked as he walked down the hallway to class with Wolf.

"It depends," Wolf said softly. "There are two ways to survive. If you can't find another wolf then your only other option is what the local hospital, St. Mungo's I think it's called, does. They use magic to bind the skin together so that, even though it still doesn't heal, it does have the appearance of being healed.

"Can you imagine what it's like to go through the violent shift from human form to wolf and to have this one spot that refuses to bend with the rest of you? If you survive the pain of shifting with this additional impediment there will be some sort of deformity on the wolf, a bald spot or a bad limp." Wolf added as he shook his head in disgust.

"What about if they don't go to St. Mungo's and don't find another werewolf?" Cody asked as they paused just outside of the hearing range of the other students waiting outside the classroom door for their Professor to let them in.

"They die," Wolf said with strong finality.

III

Molly Weasley was waiting for him at the top of the staircase leading out of the dungeons and was doing a good job of pretending to watch the marble staircase for one of her cousins.

Wolf brushed by her and deftly dropped the potion bottle into her pocket. Seconds later she was rushing over to a red head just descending the steps with a secret smile on her face and an extra bounce in her walk.

She was smart to have figured out that the Slytherin common room was located in the dungeons on only her second day of school. Wolf was also very impressed with her casual plan to wait for a cousin in a spot where he could easily meet up with her. If only one of his sisters had the brains to think of such a plan. They were flighty and somewhat vapid, although he suspected that was mostly a façade, whereas Molly was smart and straightforward.

Molly would make a good werewolf. She could be a second or third in a pack. But she wasn't a werewolf (he had checked) and he wasn't cruel enough to bite her so it was easy to let that thought float away.

He joined Cody at the Slytherin table and was glad that they had seats facing the Gryffindor table. Wolf settled in to wait and like usual he sent his senses out to try and find another bitten person. Again he came up with nothing.

Wolf swore and jabbed his fork into his chicken. He knew the scent he needed to look for now that he had found Cody and, as Wolf Lord, there wasn't a werewolf alive that could hide from him if he were truly serious about trying to find them. Right now he was very serious. It was totally inconceivable that an untrained werewolf could hide from him this long. There must be something he was overlooking, something crucial that explained why he had not found another bitten child.

Wolf looked up when there was a large commotion over at the Gryffindor table. Molly was profusely apologizing to another red head and was helping to mop up his spilled pumpkin juice.

If Wolf hadn't been watching he would have missed it as Molly reached across Potter's plate for more napkins. He was positive that no one else could notice the small stream of liquid that fell from her hand into Jamie's cup because at that same moment another of the red heads turned into a bright yellow canary.

The entire table burst into laughter as the startled Weasley began to molt. Wolf watched as Jamie snorted in laughter along with his friends and reached for his glass. All he took was a sip, but that was all that was needed.

No one, not even Jamie himself noticed at first that the previously black haired boy with pale white skin had turned green and silver. It was the chortling from the Slytherin table that finally clued them in that something was wrong.

Granger-Weasley stopped the laughing and shocked screaming when she yelled, "that's enough!" in a voice loud enough to shake the enchanted ceiling.

"Now then," she continued from her place at the staff table in a much quieter voice. "Mr. Potter, please go to the hospital wing to have your coloring returned to you, Mr. Weasley, err," she paused when all but one red head turned in her direction, "Joseph Weasley," she continued, "while I am quite sure that your use of a banned Weasley's Wizard Wheezes product in school is accidental, you will be receiving a detention every night this week unless the real culprit comes forward." Her glance swept all of the Weasley's and Wolf was happy to see that Molly was busy looking shocked but slightly amused instead of guilty. Granger-Weasley's eyes glazed over her as if she weren't there.

Wolf gritted his teeth. She didn't deserve to be overlooked like that, especially not with the amount of strength she had. But, Wolf looked over at Molly again, it seemed that she had expected to be glanced over in favor of her siblings and cousins and had taken full advantage of that when she planned out this trick. Who would ever suspect the overshadowed female Weasley? It was a trick his own mother had used with her siblings back when she was in Hogwarts herself.

It was truly amazing what the Weasley women could do when they had to.

III

Past:

Draco walked at the back of the pack as usual. It was a habit that originated from when Kyoko was still in the pack hierarchy and forced the other wolves to ignore him. Now, even though she was gone, Draco found that he liked having the solitude he got at the back to think and to steady himself for the night ahead.

This time he had an extra reason for staying at the back. Ginevra Weasley had been formally welcomed into the pack just minutes before and was walking up at the front with Ben. As the Alpha wolf, it was Ben's responsibility to watch out for her and to teach her how to control her inner wolf. She had to stay close to him for her first change. All Draco wanted was to avoid her and her awkward questions. Hanging back afforded him that.

They reached their clearing in the trees where they would wait for the moon to rise. The ground was covered in old leaves and scraps of ripped clothing from their shifting. The pack sat in a circle around their Alpha and newest cub. Draco could see that she was shaking in fear and her eyes were so wide that the whites shown vibrantly in the dusky air. He could smell the fear floating off of her skin but it was also mixed with a tinge of excitement that he knew had been building over the past few hours.

He had been avoiding her and her quizzical glances for the past day and had been more than glad when the rest of the pack had finally come to join them for the night ahead as they had taken her attention off of him.

Draco could feel the moon rising and it sent a pleasant shiver down his spine. The call wasn't strong enough yet, not for him at least, so he sat down on his haunches to wait. On his left a lesser wolf began the beginning stages of the change. The heavy noise of popping bone and shifting skin sounded from various people around the circle.

Draco watched at she gagged in horror at the sounds but did not flinch in pain herself. She wasn't a lesser wolf then, not if she could withstand the call of the moon at its rising. He guessed that she probably wasn't even a mid-power wolf because Draco could not sense even the slightest bit of shifting inside of her, yet.

She glanced around the circle with fear clearly visible in her eyes but also with the slightest bit of confusion. She could see the wolves who were changing and the ones who were not and was clearly wondering why they did not change at the same time or, at least, why she didn't change with the first wave.

Her gaze caught his and she looked so small and vulnerable that Draco's human side couldn't help giving her a small smile. Her fear marked her as prey; rabbits always smelled of fear right before you sink your teeth into their fluffy fur; and his wolf was slowly rising with the moon. Draco fought a quick battle with his emerging wolf who wanted to see if the frightened creature in front of them tasted as good as a rabbit. His human side could clearly see that she was a fellow human and that eating her would not be a good thing, but all the wolf wanted was to hunt.

It was the age-old battle between man and wolf, this struggle for dominance, and every full moon Draco (and every other werewolf in existence) fought for control of their own minds and bodies. It had only been recently that he had first won the clash of wills and had been able to run on four paws with his own mind. It had been such a wonderful experience and he was so glad that he had not given in to his wolf like those idiots back at Hogwarts who had to take the Wolfsbane potion so they could control themselves.

Over the next two hours Draco waited and watched as all of the wolves of lesser power than him changed and began pacing in circle around those who had still not been called to life by the moon. He was not unaffected, of course. The wolf inside fought bitterly for freedom the longer the moon was in the sky.

What did surprise Draco was that She hadn't begun the change yet. From his place in the circle, Draco could feel that Ben was starting to lose the fight and was struggling to stay human longer than Weasley.

With a grunt that melded into a howl, Ben lost the fight and fell to the ground in a mass of shifting body.

Ginny whimpered, a sound that was a mix of both human and wolf, and shied away from Ben. She glanced up, the panicked expression on her face showed Draco just how frightened she was, and her eyes caught his for the second time that night.

"Why haven't I shifted?" She whispered with a frightened look at the huge russet wolf panting where Ben had been just moments before. "Why haven't you?" They were the only two still in human form in the entire pack.

"I haven't shifted because I am the most powerful wolf in our circle." Draco began with a measured tone. He didn't understand why she hadn't shifted yet. Strong emotions, especially ones like fear and panic, brought the wolf closer to the surface and could even bring about the change when the moon wasn't full. She was clearly going haywire when it came to her emotions but he couldn't sense much in the way of a struggle with her wolf. Plus, she was just a cub and therefore shouldn't have this much will to fight the wolf with.

Either she was unbelievably strong or she was the first person to ever be bitten by a werewolf and not catch lycanthropy. But he could feel the buzzing of otherworldly power in her and could smell her wolf lurking just beneath the surface, which meant that she had to be amazingly powerful.

There was a twist in his gut and Draco gasped. His change was beginning and he fought against it so he could finish answering her question.

He looked up and saw Ginny wince. He waited for the last of the pain to pass off her grimacing face before he continued.

"The more powerful you are, the longer your body fights off the pull of the moon. The reason why both of us haven't changed yet is because we are both very powerful—much more powerful than any of the other werewolves here.

"Right now I can tell that your body has begun to shift," Draco added when she winced again. "As has mine." He added when his body mirrored hers as they both began to twitch with the beginnings of pain.

On full moon nights the shift came swiftly, called by the moon rather than by the will of the human as the shift would be on any other night. Tonight, though, Draco fought his change so he could pace himself with her. Ginny was scared, yes, and a small part of him wanted to be there to comfort her and to give her extra guidance through this. The rest of him was much more callus. If he allowed her to shift after him she would be considered the more powerful wolf.

Draco did not want to be Alpha. He was stronger than Ben and could easily wrest the spot from him if he wanted, but he had too many reservations about the responsibility of the position. Working for Voldemort had proven just how easily power could be misused.

But, even if he did not want the position, he relished the knowledge that for the first time in his admittedly short life, he was more powerful than his peers. Throughout Hogwarts he had always been second best in all of his classes, had always been just another Slytherin bully populating the halls of the school, and had never once been in control of his own fate. Now he was strong enough to make his own decisions for his life and wanted it to stay that way. Plus, his wolf was a selfish creature that knew nothing about human politics. All that the wolf knew was that if there were someone stronger, it would have to obey their commands. Neither Draco nor his wolf wanted that fate.

If Ginny Weasley shifted after him she would be considered to be more powerful, so he fought the change and waited until he was sure she would shift before him. Mere seconds could count for so much in the metaphysical world.

"Personally," Draco forced out through the pain as his insides began to writhe. He could feel the fur rising through his skin and erupting all over his body. "I feel that our stronger powers stem from the fact that we can use magic, unlike the Muggle werewolves who can't, and that's why we're so much stronger then any other werewolf."

He couldn't be sure she was listening to what he was saying because the sounds of her bones snapping and her loose clothing ripping drowned out his voice. Still, it was nice to have someone to talk to for a change instead of being the only one in the pack still waiting to shift, alone.

Draco bent over and let the change take him. Bones broke and reformed, skin was exchanged with fur, and his muscles shifted to accommodate his new form.

A powerful white wolf rose from the ground and stretched. Draco dug his claws into the ground, pulled his front legs forward and grunted when he felt the joints crack.

He was a huge wolf. It was physically impossible that a one hundred sixty pound human could turn into a sixty-pound wolf. Instead metaphysics somehow made about sixty pounds disappear. He was a white werewolf of around one hundred pounds with the full intelligence of a human. In short, he was built for battle and strength.

Draco nodded his head once to Ben before turning and loping off into the forest.

He wanted to hunt, to run, and to smell. He wanted to flush out a rabbit or even a deer and wanted the thrill of sinking his teeth into the neck. He wanted the sweet blood to pump from the body into his mouth and he wanted to tear flesh from bone as the carcass cooled in the night air.

It was glorious, this freedom, and he relished every moment of it. As a human he was forced to act as the roles of society dictated. As a wolf, especially as the strongest wolf, he could act as he wished and no one would dare gainsay him.

Out of the corner of his eye Draco saw Ben move up next to their newest cub, a wolf of such a dark red that she appeared black in the dark of the night.

Draco lowered his nose to the ground and sniffed eagerly for the scent of prey. All he found was old scents. Most prey animals avoided their circle because of the wolves that hunted them. Draco smirked but only inwardly because wolves' faces lacked the muscle necessary for a real smirk. He stretched again and prepared himself for a long, pleasurable run ending with the sweet victory of a successful hunt when something small, dark red, and female crashed into him. He went skidding into the ground and game to a stop at the roots of a huge fir tree.

She yipped playfully and danced up to him, her tongue hanging out of her mouth and her lips pulled back in a wolfs imitation of a smile.

Draco looked over Ginny's fur tufted ears and found Ben sitting behind her with a sheepish expression of his face. They couldn't actually communicate the same way they would if they still had human vocal cords but with a shrug of his powerful shoulders and a pointed paw Ben was able to tell Draco that she was now Draco's responsibility.

Draco sighed and looked over at her. She was lying in a moonbeam that shone through a gap in the trees and as he watched she batted playfully at a pinecone.

Human intelligence did not shine in her eyes and Draco looked over at Ben with a look that screamed "why me?". Ben just answered with a laugh before turned to the rest of the pack. He howled and they all echoed him. Only Draco and Ginny, who was now batting at a leaf in the air with a paw, remained silent.

After the rest of the pack trotted off, Draco turned and slowly walked over to her. Her wolf was completely in control of her actions right now and he had to admit, grudgingly of course, that she was very cute.

With a sigh that was only half from annoyance, Draco nudged her with his nose. Together they set off into the woods.

III

Ginny woke, naked and confused, on the cold, hard ground. She flexed her cold fingers and cuddled closer into the warmth curled at her back. A pale arm tightened around her stomach and the fingers attached to that arm grazed gently and soothingly up and down her ribs.

She couldn't remember much of last night. They had walked to the clearing in the woods, she and Malfoy had spoken for a bit, and then pain.

Now she could tell that she was still in the woods and even with the rest of the anomalies that normally would have sent her into a screaming fit, such as her nakedness or the male arm now stroking the underside of her breast, she felt safe and calm.

There was a series of loud groans from across the clearing and Ginny craned her neck to see a large pile of humans slowly detangle themselves. All of them were naked too but Ginny did not feel her usual blush bloom in her cheeks at her first sight of a naked male. Perhaps it had something to do with the naked man who was holding her but she privately thought that it might have something to do with the fact that wolves had no need for emotions such as embarrassment. Now that she was a werewolf such emotions seemed distant and rather arbitrary.

With a groan the man behind her pulled away and stood before offering a hand to help her up. Ginny took it and came face-to-face with Draco Malfoy.

His hair was filled with brambles and leaves and his skin had quite a few places where now healed thorn marks had left dried lines of blood. He also had one leg that was completely brown from mud.

"Just so you know, Weasley," he grumbled down at her upturned, shocked face, "you are absolutely crazy. I am never, ever, going to play chase with you again."

He hadn't released her hand and Ginny didn't bother to pull away. They had woken up naked and in each other's arms; grumbling about holding his hand seemed pointless.

"What happened last night?" She said as they began following the rest of the pack out of the forest.

Draco laughed, "Well, first you spurned our Alpha and refused to listen to his commands. Then you attacked me and insisted we play for about six hours. Then when I tried to teach you how to hunt you decided to jump on my back and stole my kill from me!" Ginny laughed. "And of course," Draco continued with a growl, "I couldn't let that go unpunished so while you thought I was playing tag, I was trying to catch you so I could reprimand you properly!" Draco huffed but smiled as her giggles rang through the early morning trees.

Draco looked up to the front of the pack and saw Ben looking back at them. The Alpha winked and smiled. Draco groaned. What had he gotten himself into?


	4. Chapter 4

Wolf Lord

Chapter Four

By Mell8

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_Vampires are studied in Defense Against the Dark Arts, but are not considered wizards (CS10, PA3, GF10)._

_Treatment of vampires is regulated by the Ministry of Magic; they seem to be classified as "non-wizard part-humans" (GF10)._

_Garlic is used against vampires (PS8), though exactly how might be a little complicated (PA10)._

_They are associated with Romania and Transylvania (PS8, QA)._

_--_Taken from the Harry Potter Lexicon on Vampires

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Present:

The full moon was fast approaching and Wolf was worried. They had found no one who had been bitten. They couldn't find even the smallest sign of werewolf activity in the school.

Lupin was looking wan and tired and could be seen with his potion if you stopped by his office after lunch. There was a small cauldron of Wolfsbane boiling in Zabini's office with enough protective spells on it to stop an elephant in its tracks. Wolf could smell the acrid scent during class and it made him feel sick to his stomach.

Wolf whined under his breath and shifted in his seat.

Today's potions class was theory and properties of ingredients and most of the other students had fallen asleep within the first ten minutes of the class. Professor Zabini wasn't bothering to wake them, rather, he had smirked and began taking five points off of Hufflepuff for every minute they were asleep.

When the bell finally rang, Wolf looked green. Professor Zabini pulled him aside as the other students filed out of the classroom.

"Are you feeling all right, Wolf?"

"I'll be fine once I get away from your classroom," Wolf said coldly.

"Wolf!" Zabini gasped. "I should take points off for saying that to a teacher."

"It's that potion in your office. The smell is making me feel sick."

Zabini looked worried and gently put his hand on Wolf's forehead. "You're burning up! Come, let's go to the Hospital Wing."

Wolf brushed off his Professor's hand. Werewolves generally had a higher temperature than regular humans. This was especially true near the full moon.

"I'm fine. I just need to get away from that awful potion." Wolf turned too quickly and had to swallow hard to keep himself from dry heaving. He quickly walked out of the room and missed the speculating look Zabini sent after him.

Cody was waiting with Molly outside the classroom.

"Hey, Wolf!" Molly chirped. "Cody said that you'd help me with my homework tonight."

"He said that, huh?" Wolf sent Cody a look. "Well Cody's going to have to help you tonight. I'm going out to explore the grounds."

"What about tomorrow?" Molly asked.

"Tomorrow is even worse." Cody shook his head.

Molly looked crestfallen and didn't speak except to say goodbye when they reached the Great Hall and lunch.

"I feel bad for her." Cody said with a gentle smile in her direction. "She genuinely likes you but you can't tell her why you're avoiding her."

"I like her too," Wolf said with a shrug.

"Wolf! She's eleven!"

"She's family," Wolf snarled in a muted whisper.

Cody looked taken aback for a long second before his eyes lit up. They slid into seats at the Slytherin table.

"Your mother…" Cody started and continued even though Wolf sent him a warning look. All Cody did to acknowledge Wolf's warning was to lower his voice. "Is she the missing Weasley?"

Wolf's fist clenched around his fork and bent it in half. He tossed the utensil aside with a snarl.

"You don't know what you're talking about," Wolf hissed. Cody cringed as Wolf's eyes shone yellow for half a second.

"There's a one million galleon reward for anyone who can find valid information about her and the Weasley family won't even speak her name without one of them bursting into tears."

"They wanted to name me after her," a quiet voice piped up from Wolf's elbow. "But Pere and Grandpere said that Grandmere would cry."

Wolf spun and saw that Molly had settled herself in to eat lunch next to him.

"What're you doing here?" Wolf asked in surprise.

"Big-head Boy Jr. was being annoying and I figured you would have sympathy." She shrugged over to the Head boy who, now that Wolf was bothering to notice, was another Weasley. "Why're you talking about Aunt Ginny?"

Wolf took a bite of his sandwich and Cody looked the other way and began humming to himself.

"Idle speculation, pet. We were just going over the latest rumors that Wolf hasn't heard of." Buddy smiled and ruffled her hair as he took a seat on her other side. "Now, aren't your bothers or one of your cousins going to be angry if they catch you over here?"

She sniffed. "There are so many of them and they're all wrapped up with their own friends and all their homework and classes that they don't take any notice of me. I might as well not exist."

"I know the feeling," Jeremy said gently from Cody's other side. "I've got two older brothers who've graduated and are doing great things for the Ministry. My parents don't care about me as much. It's like I'm the spare."

"I'm not a "spare"," she said with a shake of her head, "there're just too many of us to keep track of. I'm not going home Christmas break and only Grandmere put up a fight about it."

"Don't worry about it. You can just spend more time with us." Buddy smiled and patted her on the head.

"Yeah, but why won't Wolf let me?" She glared up at the pink haired boy.

Cody laughed. "Look, sometimes we've got to do boy things and having an eleven year old girl following us around makes that difficult."

"But we can do some stuff together later, honest," Wolf added in response to her crestfallen look.

"Promise?" Her eyes lit up and Wolf couldn't help giving her a brotherly shove off the bench.

"Promise," he answered back with a grin to her shocked squeak.

"What's this?" Nott laughed coldly from down the table. "Wolf do you realize just who you're befriending?" He sounded scandalized. "First a Bastard son of a whore, now a Weasley! Are you sure you don't belong in Gryffindor?" His sneer told everybody listening just what he thought of Gryffindor, as did the slur of voice he added as he spoke.

"See, Nott," Wolf said congenially, "you really should learn what you're speaking about before you open your mouth. Otherwise you just sound ignorant and stupid."

"Oh, wait," Buddy said suddenly, "doesn't he sound like that normally?"

"You should hear his sister in class," Molly added in with a snort of laughter. "Oh, Professor," she said in a nasally falsetto, "I don't really need to know that answer now do I? I was busy buffing my parents Dark Mark last night instead of doing the homework. You can't expect me to be intelligent!"

Jeremy, Cody, Wolf and Buddy all laughed along with Molly even as the Nott siblings grabbed for wands.

"You little brat!" Violet Nott stood in her seat and brandished her wand at Molly.

Her brother struck first with a well-placed "Reducto!" aimed straight for the tiny red-head.

Cody acted with his usual speed with his wand and had a shield charm covering Molly well before the spell hit. The jet of light bounced off the shield and hit Wolf in the shoulder with a resounding bang.

Wolf sighed.

"Before you ask," Wolf said softly to his friends, "magic works oddly on me."

"What is going on here!" Granger-Weasley towered over a cringing Molly and even the other three boys took a second to look away from the spot where Wolf should have a gaping hole instead of a shoulder to glance up at her. Wolf just looked resigned.

"Auntie, I mean, Professor," Molly said pleadingly. "It wasn't our fault, honest!"

"Tha' was the Reductor Curse, no doubt!" Another boy whispered along the table.

"It hit him full on the shoulder!" The girl next to him whispered.

"Mister and Miss Nott," she hissed finally, "detention tonight, my office at eight o'clock."

She turned her glare at the rest of the group. "You five, follow me please," she swept away with an imperious step to her walk.

"She's a bit power hungry I think," Buddy said as they all stood to follow her out of the Great Hall. "Likes ordering us about a bit too much."

"Seriously though, Wolf, what's with your hair?" Jeremy said as they rounded the corner a good bit behind their huffing Professor.

Wolf shrugged as he conjured a hair tie and wrapped it in his waist length hair with practiced ease.

"If you mean the length, that's just what happens when I get hit with a malignant curse. It always turns into a hair growth spell."

"I meant the color," Jeremy reached out and grabbed a fistful of hair that was blond, red, and pink. "It was odd enough with you having a bloody pink mohawk but this is outrageous. Don't tell me that getting hit with curses changes your hair color too!"

"No," Wolf said with a laugh, "this is my natural hair color."

They reached Granger-Weasley's office before anyone could ask more questions about his hair. As they filed into the room Wolf felt more than one of his friends feel his hair to see if it was real. With a growl he conjured another hair tie and took the time their Professor spent glaring at them loosely braiding his hair to keep any other curious hands form getting too friendly.

"This fighting must cease at once! I do not understand why you four and the Nott children continue this feud! I will be speaking at length with Professor Zabini about this. Now, since none of you fired a spell I will not take points or issue detentions. Just remember, this is your last warning before I bring this matter to the Headmistress. And Wolf, do something about your hair!" She stood from behind her desk and walked around to the door. She held the door open for the boys and the yobediently walked out.

"Now, Molly, I called you here for a reason," Hermione turned to her niece once the Slytherins has gone. "You do know that Slytherins are dangerous and those four have a reputation for violence?"

"Auntie," Molly said with a sigh. "You don't understand. Wolf hasn't even been in school for a month and you're already labeling him as violent. Besides, they haven't been anything other than nice to me since I met them. Why're you so pre- err, peju, what's the word?"

"I am certainly not prejudiced!" Hermione gasped. "Statistics show that more Slytherins end up in trouble with the law than any other House."

"Ah, but Hermione," Blaise said as he knocked on the open door before stepping into the room, "you know as well as I do that statistics can be twisted by intent until they are as unreliable as Divination."

Her mouth grimaced even as she acknowledged the truth of that statement.

"Oi, don't argue with my wife," Ron said as he poked his head around the doorframe. "You know how Hermione gets when she's proven wrong!" He laughed good-naturedly and pulled Hermione into a hug. "Ah! Molly how are you?" He released Hermione and pulled his niece into his arms.

"I'm okay Uncle Ron," Molly smiled.

"Excellent." He plopped down into one of the hard backed chairs across from Hermione's desk with a grateful sigh. "So, did you find Malfoy or something?" He said suddenly. "'Cause I could've sworn I passed him on my way here. 'Cept he had this really odd hair…red, blond, and pink."

Hermione gaped up at her husband with shock. "That would make so much sense," she intoned softly once she caught her bearings again.

"Well, it was nice to see you again, Uncle Ron," Molly said as she stood and edged her way towards the door. "I've got a lot of homework to do so I'll be going now."

Molly slipped out of the door with only one thought on her mind. She had to find Wolf and ask him whether he really was a Malfoy. It would be horrible if he was because that would make him a criminal.

"You can't escape this time, bitch!"

Molly gasped and spun around to face the Nott siblings who were on their way to detention.

"You'll pay for getting us in trouble!"

III

Past:

Ginny stumbled downstairs with a groan. A hot shower had taken most of the aches from the night before out of her muscles but only a really good massage would alleviate the rest.

She sat down at the kitchen table and looked up when Draco slid a cheese and vegetable omelet in front of her. He smiled and went back to cooking at the Muggle stove.

In the seven months they had been together, Ginny had found out a lot about Draco Malfoy. At times he still showed the pettiness and close-mindedness that had characterized him at Hogwarts but for the most part his previous personality had been buried. Draco cooked and his food always tasted good, he drove a Japanese built car and had legally gotten a license from a Muggle company, and he was generally a nice person. He had a job working with Ben's construction company and paid rent to Ben for room and board. He had also helped Ginny get a job as a sales clerk at a clothing shop in the neighboring town.

The bigoted Draco Malfoy was gone.

The man in question sat across from her at the table with an omelet of his own. For some reason, even though the wolf inside preferred raw steaks, neither of them could stomach meat the day after a full moon. It had become tradition after her first night for Draco to make vegetable omelets, especially since Ben was always busy on the morning after.

"Do you remember anything from last night?" Draco asked before taking another bite of food.

Ginny chewed and swallowed before answering. "Bits and pieces. I remember a tree," she stopped when Draco flinched. "What? What did I do this time?"

Draco laughed and shook his head ruefully. "You tried to climb it when you were chasing after a squirrel. You fell and, luckily for you, I was underneath you to break your fall."

She winced in sympathy even as her giggles filled the room. Draco smiled and shook his head as he bent over his breakfast.

"So," Ginny said once her laughter had calmed, "what are you planning on doing today?"

Draco shrugged. "I was going to be lazy until Ben comes home. Then I was going to pester him for more information about why our wolves are so attracted to each other and why our human sides have no issues with this, especially with our past history."

Ginny sighed and put down her fork. "We ask him that after every full moon and he always weasels out of answering!"

"I'm to assume by your conversation that your illustrious Alpha is out at the moment?" Came a voice from the kitchen door leading to the backyard.

Ginny gasped and sniffed the air to scent the intruder. He smelled like something dead and Ginny growled, both in fright and territorial anger.

"Lynx!" Draco said with a smile. "I didn't expect to see you out and about in daylight."

Ginny looked in shock from Draco to the tall, blue haired man with equally vibrant blue eyes standing in the doorway.

Draco stood and clasped Lynx's hand as he welcomed the taller man into the house.

"Oh, you know how it is sometimes, Draco." Lynx said with a faded English accent. "The dark can be so dreary and sometimes I like to exert the extra power to walk under the sun without burning. Oh! What a lovely young lady. You must introduce her to me, Draco."

Draco put a possessive arm around Ginny's shoulders but was still smiling as he said, "Lynx, this is Ginny, Ginny this is Lynx."

Lynx nodded. "She's a new werewolf, I can sense her power."

Draco shrugged. "Ginny, Lynx is a vampire and is a messenger for their leader. I'm assuming you're here to organize our yearly conclave." Draco finished to Lynx as the blue haired man took an empty seat at their table.

Draco and Ginny retook their seats and Lynx nodded. "My master has sent me to begin date negotiations with your Alpha."

"Wait," Ginny said slowly. "What's going on?" She shook her head with a grimace. "I'm probably going to sound stupid but, at Hogwarts they always taught that Vampires were evil, blood-sucking creatures who could only come out at night to feed on innocents. Now," Ginny continued before Lynx's amused and Draco's exasperated expressions translated into words, "I understand that most of what Hogwarts teaches about magical creatures is wrong and emanates from fear of what they don't understand and can't control, but there are usually small bits and pieces that they get correct. The not being able to walk in sunlight was always one I thought was accurate."

Draco groaned and Lynx laughed. "It's true, we do drink blood for sustenance. Also for the most part we can only walk when the sun has returned to its rest."

"What he isn't telling you," Draco said with a smirk, "is that like us, he is more powerful than his master but chooses to remain behind the scenes. His sun walking trick can only be done by three vampires in existence."

Ginny gaped and struggled to see a master vampire in the blue haired teen lounging next to Draco.

Lynx laughed gently. "It's the hair, isn't it? Draco I told you that I should have gone with bubblegum pink!"

"Lynx likes to keep up with the current rock culture," Draco explained. "You should see the tattoo on his back."

"It makes me seem less threatening," Lynx whispered with a smile. "Otherwise, how would I put pretty young werewolves like you at ease," he winked at Ginny.

She missed the warning look Draco gave Lynx because she was gaping at him again.

"If you want to annoy him," Draco said darkly as Lynx dove across the table making Draco dance out of the way, "call him Caracal. It's the name his maker gave him and he hates it."

"There you go, Draco. Spilling all my secrets!" He finally caught Draco and gripped one hand in his hair and the other around Draco's shoulders. Draco jumped when Lynx licked the pulse point on his neck.

"Lynx," Draco growled. Ginny added in her own growl when she saw that Draco was very not happy to have Lynx holding him like that.

"All right! All right! You know I was only playing around. Besides, I wouldn't want to anger your ladylove. I've got a filly of my own waiting back home. Oh, now I remember why I came over!"

"Wasn't it to organize our meeting?" Draco drawled with a friendly smirk.

Lynx laughed. "That's the excuse I gave my master. Jessie's pregnant!"

Draco's mouth fell open. "You've succeeded! Congratulations!"

Lynx smiled happily and accepted the manly pat on the back Draco gave him.

"Wait, Vampires can have kids?" Ginny asked from the sink. She had been letting the men talk and was loading the dishwasher with their breakfast plates but the mention of children had perked her ears up.

"It's very rare." Draco said. "Actually, it's considered impossible. Magical species like Vampires and Werewolves can't have kids because of the metaphysics that go into our existence. Lynx and Jessie are an impossibility and this will be their second try at having a child."

"It's because we are so powerful that we can use our own magic to keep the metaphysics from interfering with the babe. Plus, Draco's been working on some spells that he thinks will help keep the fetus alive."

"Werewolves can't have kids," Ginny whispered in a crushed voice.

"Oh, darling," Lynx said gently at her broken face.

"Ginny, don't worry. If you want to have a kid, we'll find a way." Draco pulled her into his arms in a move that had become commonplace for them and another reason why they continued to interrogate Ben. Their complete comfort with the other and the lack of the fighting that had dominated their years at Hogwarts was perplexing but at the same time had become a great comfort to them.

"Tell your master that the wolves say, the harvest moon at the usual meeting place," Ben said as he walked into the kitchen from the living room.

Lynx looked over from Draco and Ginny to nod stiffly at Ben.

"As you say, Benjamin." Lynx nodded to Draco and smiled gently at Ginny before heading to the door.

"And I'd appreciate it, Caracal," Ben sneered, "if you didn't come to my home next time you wanted to leave a message for me. There are other options that don't involve your stench permeating my belongings."

Lynx sniffed and stepped into the afternoon sun. Ben grumbled and stomped off upstairs.

"They were actually great friends a couple hundred years ago," Draco said with a sigh. "Then Ben became a wolf and Lynx became a vampire. They haven't spoken cordially since."

"Wait, how old is Ben?" Ginny asked in a shocked voice.

Draco gently stroked her hair. It seemed that today was the day for startling revelations for Ginny. He had had one too when he first heard what he was about to tell her and had nearly torn the back door off its hinges in surprise.

"Werewolves who accept their wolf and don't suppress it with Wolfsbane live until they are killed. Like Vampires, Werewolves are considered immortal."

Ginny sighed sadly and buried her face in his shirt. What he didn't mention yet, but would mention soon, was the fact that creatures that were powerful enough to be Alphas or Master Vampires couldn't be killed by ordinary means. A muggle gun, even loaded with silver bullets, wouldn't do more than injure them.

But that would be information for later, once she could control her wolf during the moon. And that wasn't too far off. Probably by the time the meeting with the Vampires came along she would be in complete control.

Until then, he would watch over her and pester Ben for information. It was all he could do.

Draco smiled and guided Ginny over to the table. "How about I teach you how to cook pizza. It's Ben's one weakness so hopefully he'll spill and tell us what we want to know."

Ginny let out a watery giggle. "You show me how to make pizza and I'll show you my Mum's secret chocolate brownie recipe."

Draco smiled. She would be fine and they would cross the hurdles when they came.

III

"Caracal's an arse," Ben grumbled over his slice of homemade pizza. "I don't know what you see in him, Draco."

Draco just smiled over his own pizza.

"Ben…" Ginny said slowly.

Ben held up a hand to stop her question before she asked it.

"But I've almost gotten complete control over my wolf!" Ginny whined.

Ben put down his dinner with a sigh. "Look, Ginny, Draco, I'm not entirely sure why you're so drawn together and why your wolves have overridden your human emotions on this matter. All I'm sure about is that it is irreversible and you should learn to live with it."

"But!" Draco started but stopped at Ben's sharp look.

"I'm planning to ask the other Alpha wolves if they know anything when they come over for the yearly meeting." Ben picked up his pizza again to signal the end of the conversation.

"I though you were the strongest wolf. What another wolf knows, you know." Ginny said softly.

"I was," Ben said coldly, "then you two kids came around." He stood and dropped his empty plate in the sink before disappearing.

"He's jealous?" Ginny asked gently.

"A bit," Draco answered as he helped Ginny clear the table, "but it's more than that. His emotions run crazy every time he sees Lynx and we're the closest to take it out on. Theirs was not a friendly parting."

Draco frowned sadly and dug out the dish soap from under the sink to give himself time to reorganize his own frazzled emotions. Having Ben snap at him always made him angry and defensive.

When he returned to the surface Draco was smiling. "Hey, do you want to go to Lynx's house? You can meet his wife and I can put some spells on her to help keep the baby separate from the damaging metaphysics."

Ginny smiled. "Yes. Hey, Draco. If these spells you've developed work on Vampires, do you think they'd work on Werewolves?"

"You want children that badly?" Draco said softly.

Ginny nodded mutely. "I remember the day my first nephew was born. Bill let me hold him and that's when I knew I wanted children."

Draco wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I'll see if the spell can be adapted for wolves."

Her smile made his heart skip a beat and suddenly Draco knew that the only way her future child wouldn't be his would be if he were dead.


	5. Chapter 5

Wolf Lord

Chapter Five

By Mell8

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_Each Wizarding governing body will be responsible for the concealment, care, and control of all magical beasts, beings, and spirits dwelling within its territory's borders. Should any such creature cause harm to, or draw the notice of, the Muggle community, that nation's wizarding governing body will be subject to discipline by the International Confederation of Wizards. _

_-Clause 73 of the International Code of Wizarding Secrecy, to which wizard ministries worldwide conform today. _

--Taken from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander.

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Present:

Wolf could smell something amiss wafting down the corridors as he followed his friends down into the dungeons. The smell was slightly salty and wet and oh so familiar. He just couldn't remember who he had smelled crying before.

Then it hit him. The only person he had smelt crying since getting on the Hogwarts Express was Molly Weasley.

"Shit," Wolf swore and spun around before dashing back up the stairs towards Granger-Weasley's office.

"Wolf? What's wrong?" Cody called after him. Wolf ignored him and decided that speed was more important than appearing human so he released some of his closely controlled powers until he was practically flying through the corridors.

He slowed to a fast walk just before rounding the corner to the hallway where he could smell Molly and the Nott siblings. Should he turn down another hallway and get a professor or would it be better for him to take care of this himself?

Molly's squeal of pain decided him. She didn't have time for him to find a teacher.

He turned the corner and couldn't stop the growl from erupting in his chest. Molly was stumbling around, apparently dancing, while under what looked like the jelly-legs curse and something was causing painful boils to break out across her skin every time she moved. Theodore raised his wand again so Wolf gave up the element of surprise in order to focus the siblings' attention on him rather than Molly.

"What do you think you're doing?" he snapped. The Nott siblings turned and glared hatefully at Wolf.

"She's getting what she deserves," Theodore sneered coldly. "Stay out of our business!"

Violet laughed through her nose like the laughter of a dieing Jarvey and lifted her wand at Wolf. "What's with that awful hair?" she gasped as if his fashion faux pas was worse than what they had been torturing Molly with.

Wolf ignored them both and quickly swished his wand with the counter curses to the spells Molly was suffering from. She collapsed to the ground in tears and crawled over to huddle at Wolf's feet.

He blocked a couple curses sent his way by the Notts and returned with two simple stunning spells that they were unable to block.

"Oi! What do you think you're doing?!"

Molly gasped and clutched Wolf's leg harder as a tall red-haired man Wolf had never seen before jogged down the corridor, wand outstretched. Following him was Professor Granger-Weasley and Professor Zabini.

"I was coming to warn you," Molly said in a quick babble to Wolf's shins. "They think you're Draco Malfoy," she giggled disbelievingly through her continued tears.

Wolf sneered to hide his surprise and fear and would have taken off running if Molly hadn't been clutching him so tightly. If he had run they might have thought he was just trying to get away from the scene of the crime rather than to escape before they tried to kill him for who his father is.

"Wolf!" Granger-Weasley snapped. "What is the meaning of this? Didn't we just have a conversation about not attacking Mr. and Miss Nott?"

Buddy, Jeremy, and Cody all ran around the corner just then and skidded to a halt behind Wolf.

"This looks bad," Cody whispered. Buddy and Jeremy nodded.

"Auntie, it wasn't Wolf's fault! Honest! They were attacking me and Wolf saved me," Molly untangled herself from Wolf's legs and shakily stood to her feet. "They hit me with all sorts of awful curses. All Wolf did was stun them so they'd stop!"

"Is this true, Wolf?" Zabini asked softly.

Wolf sneered coldly at them but nodded.

"See, I told you," the unknown Weasley man whispered. "Doesn't he look exactly like Malfoy?"

Wolf stiffened. Molly was right; they did think he was a Malfoy. True at the moment it was mere speculation but all three adults looked pretty sure they had come to the correct solution.

"He's not Draco," Zabini said with a shake of his head. "The nose is wrong. Besides, he's much too young."

"Are you of any relation to Draco Malfoy?" The unknown red-haired man snapped eagerly as he took a threatening step forward.

Wolf suppressed his wolf to keep it from attacking the man entering his personal space and looked coldly up at him.

"Who are you to be asking me such a random question?" Wolf asked.

"I'm Auror Ronald Weasley and I've been in charge of Draco Malfoy's case for over ten years. You're the first clue I've ever gotten."

"Just because I seem to look somewhat like this Draco Malfoy you think I'm a relation of does not mean that I know who you're talking about," Wolf sniffed deprecatingly and looked down his nose at Uncle Ron, the brother his mother and father spoke about the most. "Besides," he went on coldly and pointedly. "Even if you were to find Draco Malfoy or any of his family you wouldn't survive to tell anyone about it."

Anyone looking for the Malfoy's would die, simple as that.

Zabini understood the message laced in Wolf's words and Granger-Weasley's gasp a few seconds later told him that she took the threat seriously. Weasley's face was blank but not from being clueless. It seemed that he was actually thinking.

"What makes you so sure of that?" Ron Weasley asked with a curious look. "You say you don't know Malfoy but you seem to know how he would react to being found…I'm sure you won't mind coming in to Headquarters for an interview so we could talk about this?" He stepped forward again and reached out to take Wolf's arm.

Wolf stepped back and shook his head. "Actually, I do mind. I have a lot of homework to complete tonight. Besides, legally you have to go through the International Division of your Ministry and talk to my Ambassador before you can even think about questioning me about anything. Also, since I'm minor you must have the consent of both my parents before you can even think about interrogating me."

Ron backed up a step and nodded. "You are right. But once I make the correct inquiries with International and with your parents you will answer all my questions."

"That's fine with me," Wolf answered before turning and leaving the adults behind. Molly tucked her hand into his and followed the Slytherins down into the dungeons.

"So," Wolf heard Ron ask. "Hermione, will you look up his parents address for me?"

She sighed. "Oh, Ron. No one has any idea who his parents are, let alone who he really is. I couldn't tell you if he even has parents."

"Fuck."

Wolf laughed quietly and let his feet take him out of range of their conversation. He was still safe yet.

"Alright, Wolf. Spill." Buddy fixed Wolf with a glare the second the door had closed behind them. Wolf led Molly over to his bed and quickly kicked a pair of his boxers underneath before she noticed them.

"Spill what?" Wolf grumbled as he sat next to Molly, then had to stand back up and move his hair out of the way before sitting again.

"You've already told us why your hair grew like that," Buddy said with a shrug. "So we'll skip the improbabilities there. What we want to know is about that conversation in the hallway. Do you really know Draco Malfoy?"

"And what about that missing Weasley girl, Ginevra?" Jeremy asked with a lift of his eyebrow. "You seem to know a lot about her."

Wolf groaned and began unbraiding his hair to buy time. "What I know is privileged information that has many lives resting on its secrecy. If I were to tell you and you were to tell someone else you would kill many people and I would hunt you down and kill you myself. Do you understand?" His eyes shone a dangerous yellow through the fall of his hair.

All of the other boys gulped and nodded. They understood the dangers.

Wolf turned to look at Molly. "You can't tell any of your Aunts and Uncles or your parents. You're going to want to but telling them will only hurt them more. It would make your Grandmum cry."

Molly looked a little frightened but she nodded bravely anyway.

Wolf finished unbraiding and found a brush. As he ran the stiff bristles through his hair he began to speak.

"My father is Draco Malfoy and my mother is Ginevra Weasley. That's why I know so much about them." He ignored the gasps in favor of working out a particularly tight knot.

"Does that mean we're cousins?" Molly asked softly.

"Yes. That means we're cousins," Wolf smiled at her squeal of glee and grunted when she threw herself on him to give him a hug.

"But that also means you could be tried and convicted for your father's war crimes," Cody whispered in a shocked voice.

"That's another reason why what I've just said doesn't go past this room. If the Ministry of Magic decides to arrest me because I'm a Malfoy, I will put bodies in the ground. My threat before wasn't an idle one."

"But why would you want to hurt someone like that?" Molly asked and Wolf couldn't stop a grimace at her innocence. His sisters knew about the practicality involved with secrecy and had each defended themselves at the cost of another's life before. Molly had led a sheltered childhood in a family that was well liked by the greater magical community so had never been introduced to the things you sometimes had to do to survive.

Wolf realized suddenly that despite the fact that Molly was family and was probably the only cousin he would ever be close to, he could never tell her about his furrier nature. She wouldn't understand.

Wolf had been pointedly silent for far too long after her naïve question but he still decided to answer. "I'm not a nice person, Molly. I like you but if you cross me I will have no compunctions against retaliating."

"So, as long as I don't narc and tell all your secrets," Molly whispered leadingly.

"You will remain my friend," Wolf finished but his answer was directed at everyone in the room, not just Molly.

Molly smiled suddenly. "Then I have nothing to worry about!" she chirped. "Your secrets are safe with me!" She bounced off the bed and spun cutely around to face the room. "I've got to go," she added as she glanced at the clock. "Mere and Pere are expecting me to send a letter tonight and curfew is soon."

Jeremy caught Wolf's look and stood to guide Molly safely out of Slytherin and through the halls to Gryffindor. Wolf did not want to chance her getting hurt again and Jeremy was the only one who had already finished his homework so he could take the time to escort her.

Moments after they left an owl came swooping through the open door. It dropped a letter into Wolf's hands and flew off.

"You're a popular one tonight, Wolf," Cody laughed as he moved to find his Transfiguration homework.

"Apparently," Wolf mumbled as he unrolled the scroll. He stood from the bed with a groan. "Zabini wants to see me. Also, I probably won't be back tonight. I want to take a look at the forest."

"Have fun!" Cody called after him. Wolf waved and disappeared up the stairs

Past:

"So what's conclave exactly?" Ginny asked as she loaded her suitcase into the back of Draco's compact car.

"It's a meeting where all the metaphysical creatures gather to discus inter-species disputes, continued methods of hiding from the regular humans, and a time to get together and just hang out," Draco said with a happy smile. "Only the strongest of creatures are allowed to attend."

They climbed into the car and Draco pulled out of the driveway. Ben had left hours ago to start setting up the grove where they would be meeting but had allowed Draco and Ginny to follow later so they could have a few extra hours of sleep.

"The first night is always on a full moon so it's when the werewolves congregate to discus pack business. The second night is for inter-species mingling. It's really just a giant party where everyone gets drunk and has a great time. The third night is for vampires only so we either drive home or go to a hotel for the night."

"What about any other magical people. Don't they get their own night?"

Draco laughed. "The vampires and the werewolves are the only two creatures who are so widespread that they need a night of their own. The other groups don't need as much space for their hunting grounds so are much more tightly knit and therefore don't need specific time to get all their shit together."

Ginny nodded and settled into her seat. The drive was only an hour long but since her only form of entertainment was Draco who was focusing on the road, she knew she would get bored quickly.

Draco glanced at her and flicked on the radio. Metallica blared from the speakers and Ginny smiled and sang along at the top of her voice. Draco just shook his head with a smile. She had grown on him in the year she had been with them. He knew her little quirks just as she knew his. He loved her all the more for all of hers.

It had been so unbelievably awkward at first. They had woken up naked and curled around each other after her first full moon and ever since then they had been inseparable. But there had been many times when she would say something, one time it was about her needing money before she had gotten a job, and after she had spoken there had been a blaringly silent space. When she had glanced at him Draco had realized she was waiting for the caustic remark about Weasleys and their finances (or lack thereof) that he would have said back in Hogwarts. It had taken her a long time to realize that he didn't think that way any longer.

There was also the fact that Draco had been terrified that she was planning on turning him in to the Ministry back home as soon as she had enough control over her wolf to survive out there. It was only once he realized that she had willingly run from home that he began to loosen up and trust her a bit more.

Slowly they had found that despite the fact that their wolves were forcing them together, they really did have a lot in common. They both loved cooking and loud music and could often be found dancing around the kitchen to the Smashing Pumpkins' latest song while something simmered on the stove. They both took long showers, their favorite color was blue—little things like that made their bond that much stronger. Sometimes Draco felt that even if their wolves had not mated they would have eventually gotten together anyway. This was just a short cut.

The song switched to Disturbed's _Land of Confusion_ and Draco watched Ginny rock out appropriately out of the corner of his eye. He couldn't keep the smile off his face as they sang along with the chorus together.

"_This is the world we live in, and these are the hands we're given. Use them and let's start trying, to make it a place worth living in." _

Then Draco had to merge with traffic so he put thinking and singing to the side for a moment until he was up to speed on the highway. Ginny continued to sing or hum if she didn't know the words the entire ride.

Draco couldn't help thinking that those two lines from _Land of Confusion_ were oddly poignant. How long had he spent running away from the idea that he was a werewolf? Then how many months had he avoided Ginny despite the fact that every full moon found her wrapped in his arms again? But this was his only life and, like it or not, he was a werewolf and was deeply in love with Ginevra Weasley. So he'd take what he had and would make a good life for himself with Ginny.

III

"Wow, it's huge!" Ginny gasped as they broke through the line of trees into the conclave clearing. Draco had parked a mile away on the side of a long dirt road that was already filled with cars and they had walked through the forest the rest of the way.

The clearing was huge, about a quarter mile in diameter and magic kept the trees from encroaching into the circle. There was plenty of soft grass to lie on and flowers bloomed randomly. In the very center was a huge burnt out spot for a bonfire. Last year Draco and Lynx had felled the largest tree they could find and had used a touch of magic to keep the tree upright. The fire had been hundreds of feet high. It was a wonder no one had called in a forest fire.

Werewolves mingled if they weren't helping Ben set up the dais. Ginny didn't know anyone except Ben and his second, Michael, but Draco was waving and calling out to friends he had made last year as they made their way over to Ben.

"Why if it isn't Draco," a sly voice called from just behind them. "Have you replaced me in your affections so quickly?"

Kyoko stalked up to Draco and slid an arm between him and Ginny to push her away. The tiny Japanese woman curled her body against Draco's side and licked his ear.

Ginny growled. Draco hissed in anger and a bit of confusion and pulled his head away from her teeth.

"I thought you fled the pack because I was stronger than you even when I didn't have any control of my wolf?" He pulled out of her clutches and reached for Ginny who took his hand eagerly. "Leave me alone, Kyoko."

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Draco," she laughed cruelly. "I'm petitioning to be your mate, as are about a dozen other girls."

"What?" Draco swore and clutched at Ginny for comfort. "I already have a mate."

Kyoko laughed again and the sneer that accompanied it worried Draco. "Don't be silly, Draco," she said with a false smile. "You haven't declared a mate officially and as Ben's second you are highly sought after. You will have to choose one at the battles tonight."

"I'm not Ben's second," Draco growled. "I don't have any position in the pack. Call this off at once!"

"An unattached male should be given the luxury of exiting choices," Kyoko giggled as she walked away. "I'll be looking forward to taking you tonight." She sauntered away with a wave over her shoulder.

"What's going on, Draco?" Ginny asked softly.

"I'm not sure but it seems that Kyoko has engineered a combat for the position of my mate," Draco answered with anger and confusion lacing his voice.

"What sort of combat?" Ginny asked worriedly. "Who do I have to fight to be able to stay with you?"

Draco pulled her into his arms and hugged her tight. He took a deep sniff of her hair and could sense her wolf trembling angrily beneath the surface of her skin.

"I'll enter you into the running if I can't get Ben to abolish this foolishness," Draco said gently. "All you'll have to do is beat all the other contenders into submission so they recognize you as their alpha."

"Seems easy enough," Ginny said, valiantly trying to keep the worry out of her voice.

They reached Ben at the dais so Draco let go of Ginny to confront his alpha.

"Ben, I need you to stop this combat to become my mate," Draco said quickly before Ben could speak.

"I would have already. You are a wolf without pack positioning you can choose your own mate without the combat. But there is another situation you should know of first." Ben led them over to where three chairs had been set up for later and motioned for everyone to sit.

"I have a challenger for alpha position tonight," Ben began slowly.

"You're the strongest wolf, Ben," Ginny said vehemently. "Why would someone challenge you?"

Ben laughed. "I'm not the strongest wolf any more, you two are both stronger than me. The issue is that I haven't held my position this long because I'm a strong fighter. I'm a pacifist and I keep the fighting to a minimum through peaceful means. I am stronger than this challenger but I do not have the knowledge of how to use my strength to defeat him."

"So what do you want me to do?" Draco asked.

Ben looked uncomfortable. "You're stronger than me, Draco," Ben said again. "And I think you can run the werewolves just as well as I have for the past two hundred years. This challenger will destroy our kind. I want you to challenge me for my throne as well. Then you will take the position of demi-alpha along with this other challenger."

"There can only be one demi-alpha at a time!" Draco said sharply.

"Exactly!" Ben nodded. "That means you would have to fight this wolf for the position."

"But then Draco would have pack status and you wouldn't be able to cancel the fight to be his mate," Ginny moaned softly. Ben just nodded sadly.

"So," Draco began. "It's either I fight the other demi-alpha and save the werewolves from a horrible alpha or you cancel Ginny's fight to be my mate and I can be happy with the knowledge that Ginny can always be with me?"

He reached out blindly for Ginny's hand and she took it and pulled herself into his arms.

"I can fight and win, Draco," Ginny said into his chest. "I will make sure I'm your mate by the end of the day. You should do what's best for the wolves as a whole."

"There's one other complication," Ben said slowly. "If a mate fight goes on, it will be for who ever wins the fight to be demi-alpha, not for Draco specifically. If Ginny wins but Draco doesn't, she will be forced to become Alex's mate instead of yours, Draco."

Draco nodded. "Then we will both win," he said strongly. "Ginny will win the fight to be my mate and I will become demi-alpha."

"If you become demi, I will step down," Ben looked relieved. "And you will, you are so much stronger than Alex and you know how to fight. Thank you both."

"I'll only be alpha in name. You will still have all the same responsibilities as before, Ben," Draco said sharply. "I don't want to have total control over the werewolves."

"You're scared," Ben said softly.

"He has reason to be!" Ginny said gently. She clutched Draco's arm right over the horrible tattoo that she knew was there and used her grip to pull his arm around her in a comforting hug.

"I suppose," Ben shrugged. He had never experienced the power Voldemort had wielded and the destruction he had caused because of that power, but knew that Draco's fear stemmed from the Dark Lord's terrible example. "You can have a learning curve. I'll teach you everything you need to know slowly so that you can fully take over as alpha within a year or two."

"That's only if this scrawny kid can actually beat me," a voice snarled as a man climbed onto the dais.

"Alex," Ben said. "Meet Draco and Ginny."

Draco stood up and Ginny gulped. Draco was still the same short height he had been while at school and he would be until he reached his growth spurt. He was taller than Ginny but Alex hovered over Draco by at least a foot. He also outweighed Draco by at least a hundred pounds and it was all muscle mass.

"I will win," Draco said coldly.

"Wrong," Alex laughed. "I will win and then I'll take your girl here for my own." He winked roguishly at Ginny who recoiled into Draco's chest and settled into the empty chair next to them to wait for the night's activities to begin.


	6. Chapter 6

Wolf Lord

Chapter Six

By Mell8

-----------------

_Centaurs are very mysterious creatures. They avoid Muggles and wizards alike (FB). Centaurs watch and read the signs in the stars and planets and they do not take sides in the events unfolding around them, which they have foreseen. They prefer simply to observe (PS15). The centaurs have chosen to be considered Beasts by the Ministry (FB) and do not take part in governing at all._

_A number of centaurs live in the Forbidden Forest, including Ronan (PS15), Bane (PS15), Magorian (OP30) and up until Harry's fifth year, Firenze (PS15, OP27)._

--Taken from the Harry Potter Lexicon on Centaurs

--------------------

Present:

"You wanted to see me?" Wolf called out as he knocked and pushed open the door to Zabini's office.

Ron Weasley stood from behind the desk and nodded. "Yes I did." Wolf immediately backed to the door with a sneer.

"I'm not talking to you about anything," he hissed.

"I understand that," Weasley said with a sigh. "While I would love to take this opportunity to interrogate you, Zabini made me swear not to bring it up. I actually want to talk to you about my niece, Molly."

"What about her?" Wolf asked coldly, defensiveness was still in his voice but his posture had relaxed a small bit.

"I saw how she took hold of your hand when you left the corridor," Ron started slowly and sent a searching look at Wolf as he spoke. Wolf kept his face blank. "It's just, my little sister," he stopped and took a deep breath and Wolf couldn't help wincing inwardly at the pain now audibly apparent in his voice. The man missed his sister terribly.

"When Ginny was a first year she was possessed by a sixth year Slytherin boy and was forced to do horrible things. He hurt her terribly. Seeing Molly with you, so trusting and innocent, well, I don't want history to repeat itself." He rubbed his eyes tiredly but the look in his eyes, one of pain and such strength, let Wolf know just how serious this man was. He would not allow history to repeat itself, even if that meant forcing Wolf to stay away from his niece.

"I'm sure you don't understand what I'm talking about; Ginny's story wasn't really publicized. But…"

Wolf sighed. "Look, Weasley. Molly knows exactly where she stands with me. She understands that I am a Slytherin first and that I look out for myself before all others. I made sure she understood before I let her get in too deep."

"Why?" Weasley looked surprised. "I know something about Slytherins and generally they don't bother making their intentions known until it is too late for everyone else around them. Why would you go out of your way for Molly?" He looked skeptical now and his gaze hardened as disbelief took over.

"Would you believe me if I said my mother raised me well?" Wolf asked with a lifted eyebrow. He laughed softly at Weasley's negative grunt. "Fine, then let me just say that I am well aware of what happened to Ginevra Weasley in her first year at school and it is not something I would ever wish on anyone, especially Molly. And before you ask," Wolf held up a finger to stall Ron's question. "Ginevra is another issue I refuse to discus without a court order and truth potion. So don't ask."

"You know where Ginny is?" Ron's voice was weak with shock and tears. Wolf took pity on the older man and nodded.

"She is alive and well and is deliriously happy where she is. Don't ask me to reveal any more." Wolf opened the door and stepped into the hallway. "Allow Molly to make her own mistakes. If you shelter her too much she will never grow as a person," Wolf said finally before shutting the door and allowing the crying man some privacy.

Wolf walked quickly through the corridors until he reached the Entrance Hall. The doors were still unlocked so he slipped outside. He paused on the front steps and took a deep breath of the dusky air. Magic permeated everything in the area and it made his nose twitch with excitement. He could smell the castle behind him and the humanity inside but he was used to those smells after all his time spent living there.

Wolf jogged down the steps and onto the lawn where everything smelled green and vibrant. The plants were busy digging their roots deep into the ground before winter set in. He could smell all the people who had walked this way recently as well as any small critters.

But it was the forest that truly called to him. The trees were ancient and magic breathed through the leaves like a lovers caress. It called to his wolf, to run and hunt and howl. Wolf smirked. Who was he to deny both himself and his wolf such pleasures? There was a happy skip in his step as he quickly made his way across the grounds. He walked as fast as he could just in case someone decided to look out the castle windows and saw him. Even in the gathering dark his pink hair was easily recognizable and he would rather not be noticed.

Once he had walked far enough into the trees that he couldn't easily see the castle any more Wolf removed his clothes. He carefully folded them and tucked the small bundle into a hole made by two connecting roots that had come above ground.

Then he shifted.

The wolf skin rose out of his body and replaced his human one with a wash of magic. There wasn't any popping of joints or breaking of bones. He was simply a human one moment and a wolf the next. It was another perk of being born a wolf rather than bitten.

He shook his new skin joyfully and waited for the last vestiges of magic to fade before rising to his paws. He took a second to mark his territory, carefully so he didn't wet his clothes, so he would be able to find the exact spot later that night. Then he took off.

He ran as fast as his four legs could carry him, whipping between trees and around brush as he finally got to stretch his legs for the first time since arriving at Hogwarts. Tomorrow he would have the responsibility of taking care of Cody and wouldn't have the freedom to run so he took as much joy in it tonight as he could.

He took in the scents as the scenery flew by and the miles passed under his paws. He was soon so deep in the forest that the moonlight from the nearly full moon hardly penetrated the dense foliage above. He found one strong beam filtering through the trees and took the time to dance through it before continuing.

He didn't follow any specific scent. There really wasn't much to hunt in this forest. All of the creatures were either too big or too magical. Wolf could wait until he went home to hunt but it would certainly be an interesting experience forcing Cody not to hunt while his wolf was still in control.

For two hours Wolf frolicked through the forest. He stopped by a small stream once to get a quick drink before continuing.

He sensed the centaurs for twenty minutes before an arrow embedded itself into a tree above his head. Wolf sighed. He wanted to continue running and playing and half wished that the centaurs would just leave him alone. But he needed to speak with them about tomorrow and the subsequent full moons anyway.

Wolf turned to face the direction the arrow had been shot from and yipped a greeting.

"You are not the werewolf teacher who inhabits the human school." Only one centaur stepped into view but this one didn't have a bow in his hands. That clue plus the fact that he could smell them let Wolf know that he was completely outnumbered.

Wolf just gave the centaur a wolfish smile and shifted. His humanity sprang outwards and magic ran along his skin in powerful tingles that made the centaur shiver in reaction.

"No," Wolf said once he had completely changed into his human form. He stood in front of the centaur, naked and proud, and let his eyes shine wolf gold in the darkness.

"You have control over your wolf?" The centaur asked, shock in his eyes. "I have never met a werewolf with that ability. It was thought to have been lost in the 1300's of the human calendar."

"It was lost in this country," Wolf answered back coolly. "I have traveled far to attend the human school in order to save my kin from continued ignorance."

"Your coming has been prophesized in the stars, Wolf Lord." Another centaur stepped forward and the first gave ground to his superior with a bow of his head. "We would welcome you to our forest if you but declared your intentions."

"My needs are simple," Wolf answered with a smile. "I only wish to run in the moonlight and to train cubs to control their own wolves in a place where they will not be hunted by ignorant humans. I will not harm any creatures of this forest and will try my best to force my cubs to follow that same rule. Is this acceptable to the herd?"

"It is acceptable on one condition. On nights that are not the full moon only you, Wolf Lord, out of all the werewolves in the castle, are allowed to run in these woods."

"I cannot promise that for any wolves not under my control," Wolf answered slowly. "The teacher is not one of mine and I am positive there are some students I have yet to discover who might break such a rule."

"Understood," the centaur leader nodded. "Then on the full moon nights will you allow one of my herd to catch the scent of those who follow you in order for us to know who belongs to you and who is trespassing?"

"I agree as long as privacy is allowed. I will not have your centaur breathing down our necks as we shift nor do I want him following us on a run."

"Then we have an accord," the centaur nodded, spun on his back hooves, and galloped off into the forest. Slowly Wolf felt the rest of the herd leave until he was alone.

The sky was beginning to lighten so Wolf quickly shifted and took off for where he had left his clothing. He dressed quickly in the predawn light and snuck back to the castle and a conveniently unlocked window that he had spelled open during his first week of school just for nights such as this.

He walked into the Slytherin common room and found his homework where he had left it in a corner. He had too much adrenalin pumping through his system to try going to sleep so he might as well get his homework done. He would be too busy tomorrow anyway.

Past:

Jittery was too calm a word for Ginny as the sun began to fade towards the horizon. There were still a few hours until moonrise but Ben was standing on the dais with his hands held up for silence.

Slowly the gathering of hundreds of the most powerful werewolves quieted. Every pack sent it's Alpha, second, and sometimes it's third. Other wolves had attended of their own accord and stood by their pack leaders. The power hovering around the clearing was amazing.

"Welcome to conclave, my friends," Ben called out with a smile. "Tonight we reaffirm our strength and our placement in the pack on a global level. Tonight we welcome our newest pack members and mourn those we have lost. My pack has welcomed one new member into our folds this year," he said as he pointed towards Ginny were she was lounging at Draco's side. She waved uneasily and the assemblage watched as Draco gently ran a soothing hand down her side to comfort her. A couple females growled.

The next half hour was filled with various pack alphas announcing new and passed members. Ginny spent the time moving restlessly in her seat. She was anxious for what was to come and the sitting around and waiting was becoming monotonous. She just wanted it to be all over with and be secure in the knowledge that when she went running tonight with the moon that it would be Draco at her side.

"Our next order of business is a more pressing one," Ben said once the general announcements were done with. "Tonight we have two battles to fight. The first is a battle to take the demi-alpha position. Alex Montes has declared himself demi-alpha," Ben said pointing towards Alex. "And I have finally declared that Draco Malfoy, is indeed more worthy than me for alpha position so have therefore also declared him demi-alpha. As there can only be one demi-alpha at a time, Alex and Draco will be battling to see who will be taking the position as your alpha."

Ben waited for the gasps of surprise to finish making their rounds among the assemblage before continuing.

"Additionally, mate challenge has been called for the position of demi-alpha. Any women who wish to battle for the position of mate for whomever wins the demi-alpha battle should come forward at once."

There was a rustling as Kyoko, Ginny, and four other women stepped forward. Ginny hopped off the dais to join them on the ground.

"Is this all of whom wish to challenge?" Ben called out one last time. When no one else moved forwards he nodded. "Very well, move back and give these ladies some room."

Slowly the werewolves backed up until a large clearing had opened around the gathered women.

"Restrictions?" Ben asked the women.

Ginny looked up. "For this mating to occur, the winner of the demi-alpha fight must out last the call of the moon of the winner of the mate fight." Draco looked shocked but happy. He was the only person able to outlast Ginny for the call of the moon. If Ginny won and he lost, Alex wouldn't win her because he would never be able to outlast Ginny when the call came.

Ben looked pleased at the idea. "Agreed. Are there any others?"

This time Kyoko stepped forward. "All of the combatants must stay human," she said with a sly grin towards the newest wolf, Ginny. If Ginny lost control and shifted she would automatically lose.

Ben smiled again. He knew that Ginny could control her wolf even if Kyoko could not. "Agreed. Are there any other conditions?" he asked once more. None of the other women moved so he nodded. "Very well. The last female left standing wins. You have the option of surrendering. I will call out if I believe you are too hurt to continue."

He waited for all of the women to nod. Ginny toed off her boots and put them next to Draco on the dais as Ben spoke.

"Begin!" Ben roared. Two of the women Ginny didn't know promptly attacked each other. Kyoko smirked once at Ginny before going after a third unknown girl. Ginny stood where she was and waited for the last woman to make her way over to Ginny.

"I saw you up there with Draco," the woman hissed. "So you think you're good enough to taunt me like that?" Suddenly she rushed forward, claws extended and a snarl on her face.

Ginny braced herself and when the woman got close enough, used her momentum to send her flying up and over the dais into one of the large oak trees just beyond. The woman hit the tree with a crunch and a whimper and slid to the ground in a boneless thump.

"Mary, you're done," Ben said to that woman. "Nat, so are you," he pointed to the woman Kyoko had eviscerated. Both women nodded and crawled off to a place where they could heal.

Kyoko rushed forward towards the two battling women, tore them apart, and sent one flying into the crowd. The other she threw at Ginny who dodged. Both women hit the ground hard. Ben declared one out and the other waved her hand in surrender. She was holding her ribs and was having trouble breathing.

"Well, well, little girl," Kyoko said as she stalked closer to Ginny. "You arrived up after I left and stole my position in Draco's heart. I'm sure he told you all about the things we did together, the sex we had?"

Ginny laughed at Kyoko's attempt to rile her up. "Nice try, bitch," she said scathingly. "I know what really happened. You tried to force Draco to your will and then ran off with your tail between your legs when you failed."

"How dare you insinuate that I'm a coward!" Kyoko hissed as she lunged forward. But Ginny wasn't there when Kyoko's hands reached where her chest had been. She was up in the air, falling down behind Kyoko. Ginny left eight bloody furrows down Kyoko's back and when the tiny Asian woman spun around Ginny had already moved.

"Stay still you little rat!" Kyoko hissed as it soon became clear that Ginny was faster and more agile. Every time Kyoko attacked Ginny had already moved out of the way and was also able to injure Kyoko in some way. Soon everyone could see that Kyoko was completely outclassed.

"End it!" A voice called and was echoed from the watching crowd. Ginny smiled at them and suddenly vanished.

Only Draco and Ben were able to track her movements as she suddenly rushed at Kyoko. Before the other woman could blink Ginny was there with her claws at her jugular.

"Kyoko, you're out," Ben called.

She snarled, spun away from Ginny, and disappeared into the crowd. "You will regret this," she snarled coldly at Ginny. Ginny just smirked.

"Very well, Ginny Weasley. You are now the official mate of the demi-wolf."

Ginny nodded and took up her seat next to Draco again. She was barely out of breath after all of that. Draco ran his hand down her hair and she nuzzled his hand happily.

She had won easily. Now it was up to Draco.


	7. Chapter 7

Wolf Lord

Wolf Lord

Chapter Seven

By Mell8

--

_Magizoology- the study of magical beasts._

_Newt Scamander was awarded the Order of Merlin, Second Class, in 1979 in recognition of his services to the study of magical beasts. Scamander is solely responsible for the creation of the Werewolf Register in 1947. _

_--Taken from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander_

--

Present:

"Where is he? If he knows where my daughter is…!"

Wolf groaned and pulled Cody behind a nearby tapestry just in time to let Arthur Weasley storm past them on his way to the Great Hall where dinner was still under way. Headmistress McGonagall and Professor Granger-Weasley trailed after him. Apparently Ronald Weasley couldn't keep a secret. Wolf wouldn't be telling him any other private information again.

"Listen," Wolf said to Cody with a grimace after the adults. "I have something to take care of really quickly. Wait for me in the forest."

"Alright," Cody said with a quizzical look after Wolf as the boy slid out from behind the tapestry and ran off after his grandfather.

He stood behind Arthur in the shadows as the man politely held open the Great Hall doors for the two women but before he could follow, Wolf stepped forward and put his hand on Weasley's shoulder.

"You wanted to see me?" Wolf said softly as he pushed the door closed with his free hand.

Arthur spun around in surprise and as soon as his eyes caught on Wolf's strange hair, no doubt what Ron had used to describe Wolf to his father, his eyes lit up.

"Yes, you're Wolf?" he said with a nod. "I want you to tell me everything you know about my daughter."

"Look," Wolf sighed. "I told your son last night that she is happy and healthy. I wasn't lying."

"Then why hasn't she come home?" Arthur whispered. "She has family here." He looked so heart broken that Wolf felt sorry for him.

"The reason she hasn't returned to you is a very large one," Wolf said slowly. Once she had control over her wolf, his mother could have easily returned to England without taxing her family. That issue, the one that caused her to leave in the first place, had been taken care of. No, what kept Ginevra Malfoy from returning was her husband and the price that, even after all these years, was still hanging over his head.

"There isn't anything that would keep Ginny from her family. She loves us!"

Wolf laughed gently. "You should ask yourself what sort of things would make her feel uncomfortable about being home. Namely, that she isn't comfortable with how you would react about the man she married."

"Married?" Arthur gasped. "My baby girl is married? How…When?" Weasley looked up at Wolf shrewdly for a second before coming to a realization. "You're her son, my grandson. That's how you know so much about her."

Wolf took a step away from his grandfather before nodding. "But don't go advertising it. I'm keeping who I am secret for a reason."

"Why? What reason do you have for hiding yourself from us? Why won't Ginny come home?"

Wolf grimaced as he felt the moon begin to edge above the horizon. He needed to be outside with Cody when the moon rose because Cody could shift anytime once the moon was out.

"I've already answered the second question the best I can. If you figure out who Ginny married then I can answer the first." Wolf nodded to his grandfather before turning and heading out onto the grounds. Once the main doors were closed behind him, he took off at a sprint for the forest. As he ran Wolf felt the moon rise completely above the horizon and hoped that Cody was as powerful as Wolf thought so that he wouldn't have started shifting yet.

Cody was standing just far enough inside the tree line that he wasn't visible from the castle. Wolf sniffed him out easily as the smell of impatience and worry wafted towards him.

Wolf felt Lupin shift where he was locked away in his office just as he reached Cody and shook off the sick feeling he got from that.

"Come on," Wolf said as he began leading Cody deeper into the forest. He kept an eye on Cody as they walked to gauge how close Cody was to shifting. After an hours walk they settled into one of the clearings Wolf had found the previous night.

"Strip," Wolf said gently. "You'll want to have clothes to wear in the morning and shifting destroys clothing. Cody nodded and began to pull off his clothes.

Wolf calmly sat down on the ground and Cody nervously followed suit once he was naked.

"When is this going to happen?" Cody asked as he leaned forward to look at Wolf.

"It will happen when your wolf side overpowers your human. Shifting happens when the human gives over his body to the wolf. It is that willing surrender that causes the wolf skin to cover the human. But the first few times you shift the wolf has to force it's way out, which is why the human side fades so fully into the background."

"But when exactly?" Cody whimpered.

Wolf just shrugged. He had no idea when Cody would shift except that it would be well before Wolf himself even started feeling the need.

Truthfully, Wolf could go all the way through the night until just before the moon set without shifting if he really needed to. It was unbelievably uncomfortable and somewhat painful, but he could do it.

After the first hour of waiting passed Cody began to pace around the clearing like a caged animal. Wolf could tell that the first stirrings of Cody's wolf were starting to pulse under Cody's skin.

Twenty minutes later Cody screamed as his skin began to split and fur erupted all over his body.

But Wolf wasn't paying attention to Cody because he had just felt something else that made him more scared than he had ever been before. Seconds before Cody shifted he had felt two other presences shift into wolf form. One was shifting for it's first time and the other for maybe it's third or fourth. And they were shifting somewhere inside the school.

Wolf quickly stood and made to rush back to the school but a growl behind him made Wolf turn back around. A midnight black wolf stood in the middle of the clearing, teeth barred in challenge.

Cody's wolf was powerful and despite the clear knowledge that Wolf was much stronger than him, the wolf wanted a dominance fight anyway. This happened a lot, particularly with new wolves, but Wolf didn't have the time to deal with this right now.

Instead of shifting and beating Cody's wolf into the ground, Wolf called on his power. He let it permeate the clearing and his eyes shown with a hard gold light. He didn't blink and looked straight at Cody's wolf as the power grew in the clearing. Soon small sparks of magic could be seen as the magic fought for space in the power crowded area.

After a full minute of trying to glare Wolf down, Cody's wolf relented and dropped its head to the ground in submission.

Wolf barked once before turning and taking off at a sprint. Cody was hard pressed to keep up with Wolf. This was his first time running on four legs so he was a little shaky. But, since Wolf didn't have the time to shift, his two human legs were slow enough that Cody only fell a few feet behind.

The hour's walk it took to get to the clearing earlier in the night was reduced to eight minutes and Wolf and Cody were soon rushing across the Hogwarts grounds and into the school.

Wolf stopped in the Entrance Hall to sniff the air and when he found a scent he swore and took off again, down to the dungeons.

He smelled both wolves down there and he smelled Molly.

Cody's claws skittered on the stone as he fought for purchase and speed but he managed to stay close enough to Wolf as the enraged Wolf Lord called on his magic again and stormed down the dungeon corridor.

Molly lay on the ground, schoolbooks scattered around her, and two werewolves hovering over her menacingly. Wolf sprang and tackled the stronger of the wolves while Cody instinctively took down the second.

Claws sprang out of Wolf's hands and his bared teeth were sharp and pointed as he rode the werewolf to the ground. The fought for a moment, claws against claws and teeth against teeth but Wolf easily came up on top.

Cody was crouched over the second wolf, growling but unharmed. Wolf sniffed the air and caught the scent of Wolfsbane potion on the unknown wolves' bodies. It wasn't enough to make then tame, like Lupin, but it had let these weak creatures wait until the moon had fully risen before shifting and it had given them the illusion of control over their wolves.

Wolf sneered and pulled his magic back in. He rudely turned his back on his opponent and hurried over to Molly. He really, really hoped that he had gotten here quick enough and she was still unharmed and therefore, still human.

He swore when he saw that her arm was bleeding and quickly ripped off the hem of his shirt to wipe the blood away.

There was a long, deep gash down her forearm and Wolf hoped that she had scraped her arm a sharp point in the wall. There was an easy way to find out whether Molly was a werewolf or human. Wolf called on his magic again and bent over her arm to try and heal it. If it healed then it was a werewolf bite. If it didn't then she was fine.

It healed.

"What's going on?" Molly whispered, her eyes filled with tears and her body shaking with fear.

"I'm so sorry," Wolf said back. "I am so, so sorry."

"Are those werewolves?" Molly asked as she looked over at Cody and the two unknown wolves. "Are you a werewolf?" she gasped and pushed her back into the wall.

"Yes," Wolf answered. "And now you're one too." He sounded sad, which was the only reason Molly didn't whip out her wand to curse him and to scream for help.

"It came around the corner," Molly whispered, looking over at the two wolves Wolf didn't know, "and caught my arm as it rushed past. But you saved me," Molly looked at Wolf and saw that the claws and sharp teeth were gone. "You kept them from killing me so you're a good werewolf. Right?"

Wolf smiled. "I'm the Wolf Lord, Alpha of all werewolves. I don't hurt humans unless they attack first and I help other werewolves learn the same etiquette. I haven't spoken to the two who attacked you, but I will as soon as they're human again."

"You said that I'm a werewolf now?" Molly whimpered. "What will I do?"

"Shh," Wolf reached forward and pulled her into his arms.

Cody nudged all her books together in a pile with his nose before backing away to keep an eye on the other two.

"I'll take care of you, so you don't need to worry about being a wolf. I can teach you how to control the change and how to live with it without it affecting your daily life." Wolf held her close and bent down to whisper this last bit in her ear, "my mother, your Aunt Ginny, is a werewolf too. She is living a perfectly happy life and enjoys the freedom being a wolf gives her."

"Really?" Molly asked as Wolf picked up her books and stood with her in him arms.

"Really," Wolf replied. "Now, I'm going to bring you to my room. You can sleep there tonight and I'll explain everything to you in the morning."

Molly nodded and let Wolf carry her through the deserted Slytherin Common room and up to his dorm. He gently tucked her into his bed, nodded to the still awake Buddy, and went back to where all three wolves were waiting for him.

Wolf walked past them and back up to the Entrance Hall. The followed his unspoken command and were on his heels the whole way to the forest.

Once they reached the clearing, Wolf stripped and placed his clothes next to Cody's before yipping once and taking off at a run. After his second step Wolf was running on four paws. The other three wolves barked back in excitement and took off after him, eager to follow their Alpha's commands.

III

A failure. It had all been a failure. Those two werewolves he had stationed in Hogwarts hadn't bitten anyone, hadn't recruited anyone into his pack, and had failed in their mission.

They had shifted inside the castle; he had felt that. And then he felt nothing. It was as if his wolves had disappeared.

This angered him greatly and he blamed the teachers for it wholeheartedly. He would have his children investigate the matter and on the next full moon his plans would go perfectly.

They would go perfectly or he would be making a visit to the castle personally.

III

Past:

After Draco had finished checking Ginny over for any injuries he gave her a lingering kiss and stood up from his seat. He smiled tightly at Alex, who was fuming at Draco's display of ownership of Ginny's attentions.

"I'll enjoy ripping that bitch from your bleeding arms and taking her in front of you," Alex hissed. "You'll be so hurt that only your eyes will work, and maybe your ears so you can hear her moan."

Draco just laughed. Alex was powerful, yes, but he wasn't more powerful than Draco. That meant that Alex would not be able to outlast Ginny when it came to the call of the moon and would therefore not be suitable as her mate.

Ginny was Draco's either way and because Draco knew that he didn't let Alex's taunting bother him.

Ben stood over Alex and Draco on the dais and held his hands out to the gathered crowd.

"And now we will see who the demi-alpha will be. Are there any rules the fighters would like to have in this competition?" Ben asked.

"I hold to the rule in the mate fight," Draco called. "The demi-wolf must be able to outlast Ginny in his change." He smirked at Alex knowingly but the other man only smirked back.

"No woman can outlast me," Alex said with a suggestive laugh. "Very well, I agree."

"That means neither of you can shift in this battle or you will have lost Ginny as your mate," Ben cautioned. Draco nodded, understanding the warning, while Alex just smirked. "Fight!"

Draco slid his feet into a defensive stance and called on his power. He pulled out his claws on his hands and feet and the greater strength and agility from his wolf side. The wolf gave it eagerly, seeming to know that being with their mate was at stake. Draco felt more power than he had ever experienced before throbbing through his body.

Alex howled, a slightly distorted sound when coming from a human throat, and one or two of the lesser wolves in the crowd answered his call. Then Alex charged.

Draco quickly caught on to Alex's fighting style. The larger wolf used his body as a battering ram, brutally crushing everything in his path. There was very little finesse to his punches and kicks and he spent a lot of time charging at Draco.

Draco just dodged. Alex would charge and Draco would make the easiest move possible to escape. Alex's punches were easily thrust aside and his kicks easily ducked.

To a bystander it might seem that Alex was winning. He was throwing all the moves while Draco was only able to defend himself. It seemed to many that it was only a matter of time before Draco slipped up on his defense and Alex got in the killing punch. It was also clear that, while he wasn't aiming to kill, Alex was aiming for the area's on Draco's body that would cause the most damage and pain.

Draco just continued to carefully defend and back away from Alex's onslaught.

But Ginny knew what was really going on. She and Draco had trained together as sparring partners when Ben had declared her proficient at controlling her wolf in stressful situations. Once she had that go ahead, Ginny had promptly joined the rest of the wolves in their daily fighting practice.

She had learned the correct way to punch with the thumb outside of her fist so she wouldn't break it, and how to put the most possible strength into her kicks. As a female that meant utilizing her back muscles and turning her hips into every movement.

Males had greater upper body strength and used their shoulders to great success. Alex was using his shoulder muscles constantly as he attacked and Ginny could imagine that they were starting to burn with fatigue.

Draco had also taught her the most important bit about sparring, strategy. She hadn't needed to do anything more than dodge and attack for her battle, but Draco was being a bit more sophisticated in his attack. He was waiting for Alex to tire himself out to such a degree that it would be easy to take the bigger man out. Not only would Alex be beaten, but he would be humiliated as well. To the crowd it would seem that Draco had waited until the most opportune moment and was able to take Alex out with only a few punches while Alex spent forever punching and missing.

The fight went on for another ten minutes and the moon began to rise towards the horizon. The few lesser wolves present began to shift awkwardly as the call of the moon became stronger the closer it came to rising.

But Ginny was starting to see the warning signs in Alex's attacks. His arms shook with slight fatigue, his movements had slowed just a little, and his attacks were starting to be a little less precise. And Draco's smirk grew.

Finally, after another five minutes went by, Draco dropped his defensive stance and adopted an offensive one. Alex noticed the difference immediately and it seemed to dawn on him that Draco had just been waiting this whole time instead of losing.

Draco sprang forward, a blur of motion that Ginny could barely keep track of, and Alex went flying into the air, nose bleeding freely. The crowd gasped and rushed to get out of the way of Alex's flying body. He hit the ground with a hard thud and a cracking sound and didn't get up.

Draco stood where Alex was once standing, fists at his side and hair barely out of place. There was a small bruise forming on one cheekbone where Alex had managed to graze him with a fist but otherwise he was barely mussed at all. He wasn't even breathing hard.

Alex slowly sat up with a grimace on his face. He tried to take a deep breath to snarl something at Draco but ended up gasping in pain and clutching his ribs. He coughed once and spat out red-flecked spit. He kept trying to stand up and face Draco but his ribs had been what that cracking sound was.

Draco waited patiently for Alex to either stand and resume the fight or give up. The crowd watched as well but there were quite a few of them who were already declaring Draco their Alpha.

"Alex, are you able to continue?" Ben called to the injured wolf.

Alex opened his mouth to speak but couldn't get enough breath to snarl an answer. Instead he shook his head, no, while glaring hatefully at Draco.

Somehow Alex was able to lever himself to his feet and he stalked angrily off into the woods. He was leaving in shame but at least his head was held high.

"I now declare Draco Malfoy as demi-alpha and I hereby say that I will step down from my position as Alpha as soon as Draco is properly trained for his new position. Let us run this night as a pack and enjoy the moonlight!" Ben stepped down off the dais and began removing his clothing for the shift. Once he was naked he sat down on the ground and waited. The other wolves in the clearing followed suit.

Draco was busy being checked over by Ginny, just to check and see if any of Alex's blows had landed hard enough to do any damage. Once she was sure her mate was safe Ginny nuzzled his cheek.

They both removed their clothes and curled up together on the ground, waiting for the call of the moon to grow strong enough to call them.

They watched as all the other wolves shifted and then sat down on the ground for their Alpha and the demi-alpha and his mate to shift.

Ben nodded politely to Draco before he bent over and gave himself to the change. It was a blatant acknowledgement of Draco's new placement in the pack and all of the waiting wolves noticed.

Ginny licked Draco's cheek with her human tongue before moving away from him to shift. A half second after Ginny's shift began, Draco's wolf took over and he bowed himself over to let the shift come.

This time he licked Ginny's cheek before throwing back his head and letting out a howl that was echoed by the entire pack. He and Ginny took off into the trees and the rest of the pack followed excitedly.


	8. Chapter 8

Wolf Lord

Wolf Lord

Chapter Eight

By Mell8

--

Vampire- a corpse supposed, in European folklore, to leave its grave at night to drink the blood of the living by biting their necks with long pointed canine teeth.

Nosferatu- a hideously ugly vampire

--

Present:

Wolf woke slowly, warm and comfortable in the middle of the pile of four naked males. Cody was closest to Wolf and had his head pillowed on Wolf's shoulder. The other two wolves were close but didn't dare touch him, not after angering him so much the previous night.

They had come to an accord or sorts during their run under the moon. Everyone knew that Wolf was their Alpha and obeyed him. At least the wolf side did.

Wolf knew that Cody's human half trusted and followed Wolf as well, but he didn't know anything about the other two boys so Wolf couldn't tell if they would be obedient.

Wolf sat up and woke Cody as his shoulder moved. Cody looked up and gasped.

"What happened? Where did they come from?" he asked before realizing he was still naked and went scrambling across the clearing for his clothes.

"You wouldn't remember anything from last night," Wolf said. "Basically, right before you shifted I felt these two shifting inside the castle. We went to investigate and found them after they had bitten Molly."

"Molly was bitten!" Cody gasped. "The poor girl."

Wolf nodded and looked up at the sun. It was a few hours after dawn, about seven in the morning, and Wolf knew that they had to get back to the castle and their dorm rooms before someone noticed they were gone.

Wolf stood and poked the other two awake. They looked up blearily before gasping and looked around at their surroundings warily.

"Who-what?" one of them asked. He was a tall and gangly second year with brown hair and brown eyes.

Wolf sighed. "I'm Wolf and I'm now your Alpha werewolf. Your wolves have accepted me so it would be better if your human sides does too."

"You're a werewolf too?" the other asked. This one hadn't hit his growth spurt yet so was probably still a first year and his hair was long and light brown and his eyes were brown as well.

"Yes. I stopped you both before you could hurt anyone else. I want to know who sent you and what your names are." Wolf went to get his clothes and led the way out of the clearing once he was dressed. The other two boys didn't have clothes and would have an interesting journey back through the castle.

"I'm Mike and this is Josh," the darker colored one said. "We never met the guy who's running this thing. I was bitten and the person who bit me took me home and gave me orders to bite as many humans as possible. I bit Josh just before school started and gave him the same orders. I don't think anyone really knows who our Alpha is."

"Damn," Wolf sighed. "That's going to make destroying him that much harder." He looked at Mike and Josh with a piercing glare that made their wolves squirm before continuing. "I'm your Alpha now and I won't allow any biting. Werewolves can live peacefully with other humans without violence. I expect you to follow this rule."

"And if we don't?" Josh asked.

"Then I get to rip your throat out," Wolf said with a cold grin.

Josh shut up with a whimper and the rest of the walk back was silent.

"I will come find you before the next full moon," Wolf said as they stopped by his unlocked window. "You will come into the forest with me and I will teach you how to control your wolf without the need for disgusting Wolfsbane." Wolf let Mike and Josh scurry through the window first before he and Cody followed.

They made it back to Slytherin without any mishaps and went to their dorm. Cody groaned and fell into his bed for some more sleep. It was Saturday so they didn't need to be anywhere until lunch. Cody was going to go back to sleep and Wolf thought he might as well get a few more hours himself.

He climbed into his bed and wrapped his arms around Molly before drifting off to sleep.

III

"Wolf, could you let me up?"

Molly's voice woke him a few hours later and Wolf obligingly removed his arms so she could get up and go into the bathroom. He sat up himself and while Molly was out of the room he quickly changed into fresh clothes.

"Thanks for last night," Molly said when she returned to the room.

Wolf brushed off her thanks with a smile. "Now you have an excuse to come home with me over the summer," Wolf said, grinning. "You can come meet my family."

Jeremy and Buddy walked into the room and grinned when they saw that Wolf and Molly were awake.

"I brought you three some food," Buddy said as he put a plate filled with scones on Wolf's bedside table.

Wolf thanked him and quickly filled his two human friends in on how the evening had gone.

"Wow, that's tough," Jeremy shook his head. "Well, at least you've got all the werewolves in the castle under your control."

"Yeah, we'll see how that goes," Cody said with a laugh from where he was just sitting up in bed. "I'm waiting for Mike and Josh to tell their old Alpha everything."

"They wouldn't," Wolf said with a shake of his head. "Their human sides may want to but their wolves won't allow it. By the time they have control over their wolves I'll have changed their minds about their old Alpha."

"It works like that?" Cody asked. "The wolf has that much control?"

"As long as you let it, yes. It's like another voice in your head that feeds of your emotions."

"So that's in me too?" Molly asked.

"Yeah," Wolf nodded.

They didn't make it down to lunch. Wolf and Cody had a lot of homework they had been putting off because of the full moon that they had to finish before Monday. Molly needed a lot of help with her Potions work so they helped her with that. Jeremy and Buddy finished whatever homework they had left and were busy making a card pyramid out of Exploding Snap cards.

By dinnertime everyone's stomachs were rumbling. As Wolf got closer and closer to the Great Hall he began to feel an ominous tinge to the air. He shuddered and stopped at the top of the stairs.

"What's wrong?" Cody asked when he noticed that Wolf wasn't with them.

"I think I'll eat dinner in the kitchen tonight," Wolf said in a slightly high-pitched voice. He took a deep breath and winced at the familiar smell. "You guys go on ahead."

"Wolf," came a barking voice from the marble staircase. "Go into dinner or you'll be late."

Wolf looked up with a glare and saw Granger-Weasley eyeing him as if waiting for him to disobey her. He didn't want a months worth of detention so he gulped and slowly began to walk towards the Great Hall doors.

What did Granger-Weasley care if he died? It would probably make her life easier.

Wolf took another deep breath, winced again at the scent in the air, and steeled his shoulders before following his friends into the Great Hall. He took his seat at the Slytherin table and slunk down until his chin was barely over the table.

"Something very bad is going to happen," Wolf whispered as Molly sat down on one side of him and Cody on the other. Jeremy and Buddy sat across the table from Wolf.

Dinner hadn't been set out yet and a lot of students were starting to complain and to glare up at the head table reproachfully. Wolf just took it as a sign that his life was over.

"Children!" McGonagall called as she stood from her seat at the center of the teacher's table. "Silence please. I have an announcement to make."

The hall quieted quickly as most students were hoping that this announcement had something to do with the lack of food.

"I am sorry that you're not eating just yet but we have the privilege of welcoming a new student into our midst tonight."

The Great Hall doors opened and a very pretty girl with blue hair, just like her father's Wolf noted with a whimper, and snapping black eyes stalked into the room. She made her way up to the dais and stood next to McGonagall as she surveyed the crowd. Her eyes caught Wolf's and Wolf whimpered again and slid further down in his seat. He was now almost completely under the table and he knew that wouldn't save him.

"Why don't you introduce yourself," McGonagall asked politely.

"I'm Anno-fera," the girl said coldly. "I decided to come to this school when my boyfriend wrote home and said hello to his parents and his sisters but forgot to mention his girlfriend. Isn't that right Wolf?"

Wolf slowly sat up, glad that she hadn't thrown anything at him yet. "Hi Feral," he called with a grin," hoping that she wasn't mad, just ticked off.

Her eyes caught his and he could see a flash of red in them. Wolf gulped. She was furious.

"Hi? Is that all you have to say to me? Not even one letter or even a line in a letter home directed towards me! How was I supposed to know that you weren't dead already or if you had found another girl?"

Wolf whimpered. "I meant to write!"

"Now, now, children," McGonagall said placating. "I'm sure there is an explanation for why Wolf didn't write. After dinner you can both go down to the Slytherin common room and talk about it."

Feral turned back to look at McGonagall and as she turned something sharp and shiny flung out of her hand towards Wolf. He didn't move, knowing that she wouldn't hit him with her silver knife, at least not while in public, but if he moved he could accidentally end up in the path the knife was taking.

Her, "I'm terribly sorry," to McGonagall was accompanied by the thump of her knife as it imbedded itself hilt deep through his plate and into the table.

Wolf grasped the handle and yanked it loose before casually tossing it back at Feral. She caught it without looking and tucked it away as she walked over to where Wolf was sitting.

"Move over," she said to Cody. Cody moved quickly with an almost but not quite apologetic look at Wolf.

"I missed you," Wolf said after Feral sat down. "I'm glad you're here." He was. Her scent was a wonderful balm, both to him and his wolf and it was wonderful to be able to smell it again after so long.

They had grown up together and had decided they were getting married when they were three. Now, thirteen years later, those sentiments hadn't changed. He loved Feral. He loved her wildness, he loved her fangs, and he loved her need for blood just as she loved him despite the fact that he was a werewolf and therefore had other obligations that took him far away from her once a month.

His mother used to say that they were born for each other. His wolf certainly agreed because the first time he saw Feral his wolf had claimed her for his mate.

"I figured you weren't going to be coming home until summer and that your wolf would be pining for me within another month," she replied. "The letter thing, while true, is more of a front." She kissed him gently on the cheek and he rubbed his head into her shoulder to scent mark her. Once the formalities were over they both turned to their dinners with secret smiles on their faces.

Past:

"Well, isn't this a pretty sight?"

The drawling and faded British accent woke both Draco and Ginny from sleep and they blinked wearily up at Lynx where he stood over them.

Draco sat up and rubbed a hand through his mussed hair. "G'morning, Lynx," he mumbled. Ginny nodded a hello before burrowing under Draco's shoulder for warmth.

"Morning?" Lynx laughed. "It's hardly morning." He turned to look at Ginny with a grin. "This happens every year. As a day-walker I get sent ahead to make sure everything is prepared for tonight and I get to the clearing and find clothing scattered everywhere! Then I find Draco curled up somewhere and naked." He shook his head as if this were a terrible travesty.

Draco helped Ginny to her feet and they joined Lynx on their walk back to their clothing.

"So, I heard a rumor," Lynx said suddenly. "Draco, are you now Alpha?"

"Close," Draco shook his head. "I'm demi-alpha until I know enough of how the pack works to take over. Then Ben's planning on stepping down and giving the Alpha position to me."

"Well, I'm going to challenge my master tomorrow night for his position," Lynx said softly.

"What?" Ginny gasped. "Why? I thought you liked being second."

"You hate responsibility!" Draco added in a shocked voice.

"My master found out that Jessie's pregnant and told me that either I kill the child or he'll kill Jessie."

Draco and Ginny's shocked gasps were enough to let Lynx know just how outraged they were at his Master.

"Jessie's only three months along," Lynx whispered. "We don't even know if she'll be able to carry the babe to term. I don't understand why Master can't just let us try!"

"You'll win the fight," Ginny said strongly. "Then you can do whatever you want."

"Yeah, that's the idea," Lynx sighed. "Anyway, help me clean this mess up."

They reached the clearing and found it strewn with clothes and whatever else the wolves had brought with them the night before. With a sigh, Draco, Ginny, and Lynx began the arduous task of finding each sleeping wolf and directing them to their clothes.

III

"So, what do you think of your first conclave?" Draco asked as he stumbled back to where Ginny had been talking to some of the other female wolves. The music was blasting from the huge stereo system and lights blinked and flashed with the wind. Vampires and werewolves stumbled about, most of them drunk, as they danced and caught up on what they had been doing for the past year.

He handed Ginny a plastic cup filled with a red liquid that smelled like wine and rabbit blood. Ginny grinned and took a long gulp of the delicious drink. She was already buzzed and was getting more sloshed with every drink.

"It's amazing!" Ginny called back. "Dance with me?"

Draco laughed and grabbed her hands to pull her into the gyrating crowd.

The music was loud, the beat intoxicating, and the drink mind blurring. They danced and moved and kissed until they didn't know where they were or what was going on around them.

They soon found themselves in a secluded corner of the clearing, naked and moaning with the taste of blood on their tongues and sex in the air.

The morning found them naked and curled around each other again.

"You lot really like to be naked, don't you?" Lynx said with a grin as Draco and Ginny opened their eyes.

Ginny groaned and freed her hand from Draco's embrace so she could rub her eyes. "What happened?"

"Well…" Lynx said with a grin. "I'd say you both had sex last night."

"I know that," Ginny said with a tired wave of her hand. "I meant, why does my head hurt so much? I've had wine and blood before and it's never effected me this badly."

Lynx laughed. "That's because someone decided to spike the already spiked punch."

"What did you put in it?" Draco sighed, nursing his own handover.

"Oh, a little bit of this and that, and some vodka." Lynx grinned. "I'm guessing that if I screamed right now you both would try to disembowel me?"

"Damn right," Draco snarled. He curled tighter around Ginny and she mumbled happily in his embrace.

"Well, you lovebirds make me sick," Lynx said with a grin as Jessie waved him over from where she was hidden in a deep patch of shade. "My lady love beckons and I must obey. I'm only a man after all." He grinned and jogged off to his wife.

Draco watched his friend leave before turning to Ginny.

"Look, Ginny," he began hesitantly. "I know we were both drunk last night but I really liked being with you."

Ginny laughed. "Isn't it the girls who are supposed to get all emotional and talk about their feelings after sex? Look, I had fun and I want to do it again. Draco, we're mated in the eyes of the pack and according to our wolves. I'd like to be mated in the human world too."

"You want to get married?" Draco asked sounding both frightened and excited at the prospect.

Ginny's smile was huge. "I would love to get married, but only if you're okay with that. It doesn't have to be anything big, just Ben and the pack."

"Let me buy you a ring first," Draco said with a huge smile. "Then we'll go out to dinner and I'll make it all romantic. And then Ben can pay for the wedding."

Ginny kissed him deeply. "I do love you," she whispered softly. "It's not just my wolf, I Ginny Molly Weasley love you, Draco Lucius Malfoy."

"And I love you back, Ginny," Draco grinned and bent his head to kiss her again. "We should get dressed and find Ben to tell him that he's paying for our wedding before he gets too busy helping the vampires set up for their thing tonight. Then we can go home and find a bed."

They found their clothes and went to find Ben, smiles on their faces and an extra bounce in their step.

III

Three months had passed and the wedding was in a few days. Ginny glanced at her ring and the sparkling diamonds and white gold band shone on the early morning light coming in their bathroom window.

She groaned and bent over the toilet again as whatever was left in her stomach came back up.

This was the eighth morning in a row that she had woken up only to have to rush to the bathroom to throw up whatever was left in her stomach from dinner the night before.

She was starting to understand that she wasn't sick and that something much more serious was happening. Something that wasn't supposed to happen to werewolves.

Although, if she counted the timing… During the first three months the body was hardly even aware that something was happening and it was possible that the shift to wolf wouldn't kill it.

But now that she knew about it, Ginny knew that on her next shift she would lose the creature growing inside of her.

"Ginny?" Draco said as he stumbled tiredly into the bathroom. "Are you okay?"

Ginny sniffled and wiped her nose on the towel next to her. She didn't want to have a miscarriage just because she had to turn into a werewolf every full moon.

"Draco," Ginny whispered sadly as tears formed in her eyes. "I'm pregnant."

His eyes widened and his smile grew until the implications of what would happen to the fetus when Ginny shifted made his shoulders droop.

Ginny sobbed and threw herself into Draco's arms.

"Jessie still has her child," Ginny whispered. "Could you put those spells on me?"

Draco sighed and wiped away a few tears of his own. "I would if I thought they would work. The spells I put on Jessie make her womb seem alive and take the nutrients she gets from drinking blood and turn them into something a baby would need."

"That wouldn't work on a werewolf," Ginny whimpered.

"No, but I'm sure we can come up with something before the next moon. We have three weeks!"

A gentle knock sounded on the bathroom door and Ben stuck his head around the doorjamb. "I heard crying," he said gently. "Is everything okay?"

"Ginny's pregnant." Draco answered. "And we're not going to lose the baby!"

Ben sighed sadly. "Look. I've studied this pretty intensely. Two hundred years ago my wife got pregnant and I lost both her and the baby in the sixth month. Somehow you have to find a way to keep Ginny from shifting until she gives birth and also keep the wolf inside of her from forcing its way out of her body any other day of the month."

Draco looked thoughtful. "There must be some way. Ginny's three months along now, which leaves six months to go. But if she has an early birth it would only be five months."

"We'll find a way, Draco. With magic we can do anything." Ginny sounded strong but she knew just how difficult this was going to be.

"I'll go visit the Wizarding town. If I apparate I can be back by nightfall," Draco rubbed the top of his head. "There must be some spells about babies there."

"Just be careful, Draco," Ben said gently. "You don't want to get caught and sent back home." He had learned what Draco was in trouble for back home when Ginny had first arrived and was therefore extra careful not to speak too in depth with Draco whenever he spoke to any witches and wizards. "I can speak to the local coven about spells," he added. "They use earth healing and wandless magic. Maybe they know something."

"It wouldn't hurt to ask," Draco said with a nod and he gently dried the tears from Ginny's eyes.

"I'm coming with you, Draco," Ginny said. "I'm not going to be sitting in my bed wasting away while you do all the work."

"Fine," Draco said with a pout. "Go get dressed.

Draco and Ginny returned home that night laden with books about magical pregnancy and how to deal with any complications that might occur. There probably wasn't a spell specifically for pregnant werewolves but there were spells and potions for stopping miscarriages and for fetal development in an ill mother. There had to be something they could use and build on to help Ginny get through her pregnancy without losing the baby or her own life.

"Ah, you're back," Ben said as he walked into the kitchen where they were unloading their purchases. He had learned what apparating sounded like when Draco had taught Ginny when he was helping her finish her schooling with the local owl school curriculum.

"Did you get anything?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah, the coven told me to tell you both that they would find a way to keep your son alive as long as you promise to let them train him to use his magic."

"A son," Draco whispered happily.

"They do understand that Draco and I will be teaching our child our own magic as well?" Ginny asked as she tucked her hand into Draco's and gave a happy squeeze.

"They do," Ben nodded. And, umm," he looked uncomfortable for a second. "They also said that they would help out Caracal and Jessie if they promised that their daughter would come train with them as well."

"I'm sure Lynx would say yes," Draco nodded. "I'll call the coven tomorrow to thank them."

"Great!" Ben said with a smile. "Now, Ginny," Ben went of as he turned towards the redhead. "I know a couple of the female wolves wanted to take you out to an overnight spa and beauty salon in the morning to get you ready for the wedding. You should be ready at eight."

"What's Draco going to be doing?" she asked with a grin. Going to a spa sounded much better than sitting around the house all day and she wanted to rub it in his face just a bit."

"Whatever he wants to," Ben said with a shrug. "He'll see you again when you walk down the aisle."

"We're getting married," Ginny squealed and bounced up the stairs. Draco laughed and followed her.

"Goodnight," Ben called after them with a smile.


	9. Chapter 9

Wolf Lord

Chapter Nine

By Mell8

--

Wolf: any of several large carnivorous mammals of the genus Canis, of the dog family Canidae, esp. C. lupus, usually hunting in packs, formerly common throughout the Northern Hemisphere but now chiefly restricted to the more unpopulated parts of its range.

Taken from Dictionary dot Reference dot com

--

Present:

Feral immediately took a liking to Molly and the last Wolf had seen of them was Feral leading Molly off to a secluded part of the castle to begin teaching the girl how to throw knives.

Wolf took this as a sign that it was time to begin training Cody to become a proper werewolf. Buddy and Jeremy were interested to see what this entailed and trailed after the werewolves eagerly.

On the seventh floor was a room that his parents had told him to use if he ever needed something that he couldn't ask for from the professors. He walked past the blank stretch of wall three times while Cody studied the tapestry of the ballet-dancing trolls. When the door appeared he pulled it open.

Inside was a perfect training room and Wolf walked in with a smile on his face. The padded walls and floors were a lot better training grounds than the forest had been for him, but Wolf knew that he had to make sure not to let his charge become accustomed to only fighting in such a sterile environment.

"Alright," Wolf said with a smile. "Let's start off with the basics." He helped Cody make a fist; thumb outside and fingers curled into his palm, and made him punch the padded wall.

"One hundred with your right fist, another hundred with your left," Wolf added once he was sure Cody was hitting correctly. He left Cody to it and walked to the center of the room where he sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes. It had been so long since he had meditated and his equilibrium was feeling its loss. Everything that had been happening, finding Cody, hiding who and what he was from the teachers, his goal, saving Molly, and Feral showing up so suddenly, had all served to drag his mind from what was most important, keeping his wolf in check so that it didn't break loose and attack everyone in the school. As a natural born werewolf, Wolf was stronger than all other wolves, but that also meant that it was that much more difficult for him to control that strength.

Meditation helped him with his control by communing with his wolf, so Wolf tried to meditate at least once a week. The fact that this was the first time he had been able to since arriving at Hogwarts spoke of how difficult things were right now.

He fell into the familiar sevens of his breathing patterns and knew nothing more for at least an hour.

Cody's quiet voice interrupted him slightly as the boy asked what to do now that he had finished the hundred punches.

"Do a hundred more," Wolf slurred, only half aware of what he was being asked.

"But my hands hurt already!" Cody whined.

"Don't care," Wolf answered sharply before dropping back into oblivion.

At least two hours had passed before Wolf felt himself rising to the surface. He heard the sounds of three fists hitting the walls and opened his eyes to see that Buddy and Jeremy had joined in on the lesson.

"You two didn't have to do that," Wolf said as he stood. His long hair brushed the ground at his feet and he grimaced. His braid always came out when he meditated.

"Eh, it was boring just sitting here watching Cody suffer and it's something interesting to learn," Buddy said with a shrug. "Besides, we don't have the same amount of stamina as a werewolf so we weren't going for nearly as long as Cody."

"Good," Wolf said as he examined their raw but luckily not bloody knuckles. Cody showed Wolf his hands and Wolf nodded when he saw that despite the fact that he had done double the amount of punches, Cody's knuckles were in better shape than the two humans.

They left the room to go finish their homework but returned the next day. This time when they finished Buddy and Jeremy had bloody knuckles and Cody's were rubbed raw. Wolf had run through a battle simulation in his mind of what he would do if a wolf attacked him while he was in human form. He dodged, attacked, and blocked as he circled the imaginary foe in the center of the room, his silent steps accompanied by the thwack of a fist hitting the wall.

On the third day of training they did their homework first so were later arriving at the Room of Requirement. They passed Molly and Feral on their way and Wolf couldn't stop the shiver that ran through him at the evil smile his promised gave him. Molly echoed the smile, which made Wolf flinch, before turning and following Feral deeper into the castle.

"Why isn't Molly training with us?" Cody asked as they turned towards the Room of Requirement.

"It's tradition," Wolf answered with a shrug. "Females train females and males train males. Feral offered so that I wouldn't have to figure out how to do it."

"So she's a werewolf too?" Buddy asked.

"No" Wolf laughed. "She's something much worse."

"Worse?" Buddy sounded worried.

"The name she's using here is Ano-Feral. The name I'm using here is Wolf," Wolf explained. "Wolf signifies that I'm a werewolf and Ano-Feral signifies…" He paused to see if anyone would get it. "It's much more convoluted than mine, but that's just how a girl's mind works," he added at their blank looks. "Fine, take away the A because that signifies something else."

He still didn't get a response from his friends so Wolf continued.

"N, O, space, F, E, R, A? If you trade the space for an S you get Nosfera?"

"Nosferatu?" Cody gasped. "She's a vampire!"

"Yeah," Wolf grinned as he walked back and forth in front of the blank wall.

"Whatever makes you happy," Cody just shook his head confusedly.

Wolf led the way into the room and Cody, Buddy, and Jeremy stopped short at the sight of Mike and Josh waiting for them there.

"We followed your scent here," Mike said by way of explanation.

"I was wondering when you were going to show up," Wolf said with a smirk. "All right. Now that everyone's here we can really begin our lessons." Wolf took a seat in the center of the room and gestured for everyone else to join him. All of the werewolves and the two humans took seats in front of Wolf. Buddy and Jeremy looked interested to learn everything even though they couldn't put it to any practical use.

"You mean all that punching wasn't really our lesson?" Cody asked as he fingered his raw knuckles.

Wolf laughed. "No, you'll get back to punching the wall soon enough. What I want to start with is teaching you to feel the beast inside. The wolf part of all of us is primal, much like its counterpart in the wild. It only feels hunger, fear, want, pain, and its mate. It is the human part of us that warps and changes these feelings into complex emotions that force the wolf to do things we would not originally expect. The human hunger for power, rather than the hunger for food, leads to the wolf becoming aggressive in situations where power is concerned. For example, if you want to learn a new spell in class because the power it gives you will put you far ahead of your classmates, your wolf might rise up and try to take control because the hunger calls to it."

"So when I had that fit and you discovered what I am," Cody said thoughtfully, "it was because my wolf was trying to take control?"

"Exactly," Wolf nodded. "You were scared and angry and your wolf wanted to protect you the only way it knows how."

"But doesn't Wolfsbane stop all that?" Mike asked. "The wolf side goes away and laves the human in control."

"It does," Wolf said with a scowl. He hated Wolfsbane. "But it also poisons your wolf."

"Could that be a good thing?" Cody asked. Wolf would have snapped at him if he hadn't heard the purely academic tone to the question. Cody already knew that Wolfsbane was bad, but Wolf supposed it would be a good idea to explain why just in case he decided to experiment for more academic experience.

"Never," Wolf said with a shake of his head. "Wolfsbane merely gives the illusion of control. A true werewolf is amazingly strong, fast, and is immune to old age and disease. A werewolf on Wolfsbane is always sick and weak, and it is much more likely that he will die early in his life."

"Um," Josh piped up with a quick glance at Mike to make sure it was okay for him to ask a question. "I really don't like that dieing part. How do you get the super strength and the immortality?"

"You and your wolf must come to an accord. You must learn about who your wolf is as a sentient creature and learn to compromise with him. And, before you ask," Wolf said to forestall Cody's opening mouth, "yes, I am going to teach you how to get in contact with your wolf. Compromising is up to you."

"A-and if we don't compromise?" Josh asked hesitantly.

"You either take Wolfsbane for the rest of your life and end up like Lupin, sick and dieing at the end of a short and painful life," Wolf said, trying to give the poor first year the better news first. "Or, if you don't take the Wolfsbane, then as your Alpha I have to kill you before you become a menace and inadvertently hurt people."

"Oh," Josh said with a gulp. His face changed from fear to determination after another second and Wolf knew that Josh would be learning how to control his wolf by sheer stubbornness.

"Close your eyes," Wolf instructed and waited until no one was looking at him to continue. "Breathe on my count. Seven beats in, seven beats out, as you try to clear your mind of all thought. Reach inside of you and try to touch your wolf. Imagine fur under your fingers. Breath in, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Breath out, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven."

Wolf continued to count quietly as he watched his students. Cody's intelligence was serving him well here. He knew how to calm his mind and push thoughts away in order to concentrate on studying or homework. He shifted around a few times and caught his breathing awkwardly around the numbers every time he moved, but he seemed to be getting the hang of it.

Jeremy and Buddy were breathing in the correct patterns as well so Wolf left them alone to commune with themselves. Meditating was just as good for human control over human emotions as it was for human control over wolf emotions. The humans would still benefit from this lesson.

Mike was going to be a problem, Wolf could already tell. He was good at meditating, but he was too deep. Mike wasn't gently brushing the fur on his wolf's back; he was trying to thrust his hands through the fur into the wolf's body. Wolf kept a careful eye on him because Mike's wolf was going to lash out any second.

"Gently feel the fur brush against your fingers," Wolf said, keeping his voice soft and in time with the beats of seven, hoping to clue Mike in that he was making a mistake. "Feel the warmth of the wolf's body under your palm, the soft fur between your fingers. Four, five, six, seven," he whispered.

A loud yelp burst into the room as Mike finally lost control.

"It bit me!" he gasped before doubling over with a groan as the wolf inside tried to take over. His back bowed over and he moaned in pain as Wolf hurried over. Wolf gently ran a hand down Mike's bowed back and sent a little power inside Mike's body to subdue the wolf.

The wolf instantly quieted the second it felt it's Alpha's power wash through it. Mike took a gasping breath and groaned.

"What happened?" Mike whimpered as his body slowly reformed until it was completely human again.

"You found your wolf well enough," Wolf explained. "But you were too rough. You need to be gentle and coaxing."

"Aren't we trying to control the wolf?" Mike shook his head as the last vestiges of the almost change flowed away.

"Sort of," Wolf frowned as he tried to think of a better way to explain the partnership between the human and the wolf. "You're compromising, so you give the wolf a home inside of you and the chance to run on four legs at least once a month. In return the wolf gives you the use of its power even when you're in your human body. You're trying to coexist on equal terms, and subduing the wolf, much like with Wolfsbane, gives you none of the advantages that becoming partners does."

Mike rubbed his head tiredly, but nodded. "Sorry, let's try again."

Wolf slowly took them back into the half trance state and watched carefully. They wouldn't get it overnight, nor would they get it within the first month. It took a lot of trust and care on the human's part before the wolf felt safe giving over its power. Usually it took about a year before the wolf and human came to a full accord and it often took even longer when the human couldn't give every single second of his time to the task. Wolf hoped that by the end of the school year, his charges would have enough control that they could safely go out in public near the full moon without him nearby.

They meditated for about two hours before Wolf woke everyone up.

"Two hundred," he murmured to Cody, before moving over to Mike and Josh to show them how to make a fist.

III

"Nothing, father! Those two werewolves haven't even tried to approach me; despite all the notes I've left for them and the threats."

"This does pose a problem. You haven't been able to figure out what has drawn them away from our noble cause?" The elder paced the room with a frown on his face.

"I can't keep track of them at all hours," he groaned. "They're in different houses and it would look suspicious for me to follow around a first year." The sneer was evident in his voice and he shook his head coldly.

"Very well, we will have to cultivate another source. Whatever happened to that idiot you attacked over the summer. Did he die or can we use him?"

The younger made a noise of disgust. "He's useless. I'm not even sure how he survived, because I certainly didn't heal him, but he made it through the full moon unscathed."

"Then we use him," the elder snapped. "No one knows what he is, so we threaten to expose his secret. He comes to us in panic and does our bidding whether he likes it or not!"

"But, father! He's awful. I can't be around him!"

"You will do as I say!" the elder snapped and the whip of power that lashed through the room was more than enough to convince the younger to obey. Power like that could subdue even the strongest of Alphas and the younger was certainly not an Alpha.

"Yes, father," the boy groveled, head on the ground and tail, figuratively, between his legs.

"Now go."

The younger left, quickly.

III

Past:

Ginny's nails were a soft peach, her hair was a mass of ribbons and soft curls, her make-up was subtle but brought out her beauty perfectly, and her dress…white, flowing, and form fitting until it fanned out in a rippling white train.

She felt beautiful, she looked beautiful, and Ginny was nervous as hell.

"I want my mummy," she whimpered into the mirror. "My dad should be here walking me down the aisle; my brothers should be here to threaten Draco."

"Oh, Ginny," Jessie said sadly. She carefully reached to hug the red head around her bulging stomach. The baby kicked happily and Ginny's own, still flat, stomach twinged in sympathy. "It's okay. You have me. And you'll have Draco so long as Lynx didn't get him too drunk last night at his bachelor party."

"And I'm sure you had nothing to do with making Lynx do that," Ginny said wryly as she fought back the tears so she wouldn't ruin her make-up.

"I may have threatened him just a little," Jessie hedged with a grin as she stroked the knife she always kept in view. Ginny knew there were always a couple others that only Jessie knew about, but Jessie generally only used them on Lynx so Ginny wasn't all too worried.

A soft knock came at the door and Ben pushed his head inside after a polite second.

"Ready?" he asked as he held out his hand to Ginny with a smile.

Ginny gulped but took his hand. Jessie followed them out the door where Lynx was waiting.

The blue haired man whistled and shook his head. "Wow, Draco is a lucky man. If I wasn't already married I would so steal you from him."

"Caracal!" Ben snapped.

"Joking, joking. Come off it. You can't hold the fact that I'm a vampire instead of a werewolf against me today. Wait until our happy couple has already gone to consummate the marriage before you attack me."

Lynx winked at Ginny before bowing elegantly over his wife's hand and gently kissing the back. Jessie giggled and let him lead her to the doors as the wedding march began to play.

The vampire couple followed after a young initiate of the local Coven Ginny had become friends with over the last few days. The girl gently threw rose petals on the ground where they swirled and danced in the wake of her magic.

Lynx and Jessie walked arm in arm down the aisle and parted at the altar, Lynx going to stand next to a pale Draco and Jessie going to the empty space where Ginny would soon be standing.

Suddenly the music changed into a softer, more moving march. Ginny slowly slid into view on Ben's arm and everyone in attendance could see Draco gulp, flush, and forcefully tear his eyes away from her body to stare, enthralled, at her face.

When Ginny stepped into place next to Draco it took all of his willpower to remember that he had to raise his hand and take hers and then, somehow, turn himself to face the Coven Leader that was officiating the ceremony.

Ginny had the same amount of trouble. Her glistening eyes hadn't left his from the moment they had met, and, while she eagerly grabbed Draco's hand when he reached for her, the Coven Leader had to make clearing throat noises a couple of times before their eyes parted to focus on the Leader.

"Witness, Best Man, Caracal, leader of the Vampire tribe. Witness, Maid of Honor, Jessie of the Vampire tribe. Witness, Benjamin, Alpha of the Werewolf pack," the Coven Leader intoned to everyone gathered. "Witness as tonight we bind together two souls in life and love in the eyes of the Goddess and her Consort.

"Draco Malfoy, Wizard, Werewolf, Man. Do you take this creature of the Goddess into your life and your love? Do you take this woman in all her forms, Maiden, Woman, and Crone? Do you take your wife into your home, to protect and care for her as only you can do?"

Draco looked away from the Coven Leader to look back at Ginny.

"I take her as she was, as she will be, and as she is now," Draco said with as much emotion and love as he could muster. The Coven Leader smiled and took Draco's free hand and held it in the air before continuing.

"Ginevra Weasley, Witch, Werewolf, Woman. Do you take this creature of the Consort into your life and your love? Do you take this man for all that he is, strong, virile and true? Do you take your husband into your home, to protect and care for him as only you can do?"

Ginny lifted her free hand to entwine with Draco's waiting one as she said the reply.

"I take him as he was, as he will be, and as he is now." Her eyes began to glisten with tears as he interlaced his fingers with hers.

The Coven Leader pulled out a long strip of white silk and began to bind it around their clasped hands.

"For all the good times, the happy times, the moving times, the wonderful times, I bind you. May all your love bring you joy and peace."

The Coven Leader tied the knot and bowed over their hands before reaching into a bag and pulling out a length of harsh twine.

"For all the bad times, the painful times, the wretched times, the saddening times, I bind you. May all your hardships bring you patience and understanding."

After the knot of twine was secured a strip of soft canvas came next.

"Together, I bind you. Soft joy, hard pain, combine into simple existence, but it will be an existence you share in harmony."

He slowly weaved the canvas through the twine and silk until both the silk and the twine were entangled with each other with the canvas binding them together.

The Leader said a short prayer with a bowed head before smiling and saying, "you may now kiss the bride!"

Draco slowly bent forward and captured Ginny's lips in a chaste but deep kiss. Their entwined hands began to glow, but this muted when they slowly pulled away.

"I now give you leave to complete the ceremony," the Coven Leader said with a grin. "On your return I will pronounce you husband and wife."

Together, hands still tied, Draco and Ginny walked back down the aisle into a nearby room prepared for the last part of the ceremony. As they walked to the bed their buttons and zips began undoing themselves and their clothes dropped to the ground without interrupting their bound hands, leaving them naked as they fell to the bed.

Draco was gentle as Ginny arched into his touch. Ginny was loving as she wrapped a leg over his waist and pulled him into her. And as they made love, their bound hands glowed brightly. As they came the bindings flashed brilliantly and vanished, leaving Draco and Ginny tied together permanently with invisible bonds stronger than any spell had the power to undo.

With their son contentedly growing inside her and their marriage as binding as only magic and a helpful Goddess could make it, Ginny and Draco happily redressed themselves and went to join the party already in progress, husband and wife.

III

A.N. I made up the whole wedding ceremony. I'm sure it's partially based on something I heard once or saw on some show, but most of it came out of thin air. I hope you liked it!

Also, sorry about the long time it took to post this. I promise that the next few chapters will be up soon!


	10. Chapter 10

Wolf Lord

Chapter Ten

By Mell8

--

"Hail, Hail, Hail, great wolf spirit, Hail!

A boon I ask thee, mighty shade.

Within this circle I have made.

Make me a werewolf strong and bold.

The terror alike of young and old.

Grant me a figure tall and spare;

The speed of the elk, the claws of the bear;

The poison of snakes, the wit of the fox;

The stealth of the wolf, the strength of the ox;

The jaws of the tiger, the teeth of the shark;

The eyes of a cat that sees in the dark;

Make me climb like a monkey, scent like a dog;

Swim like a fish, and eat like a hog.

Haste, Haste, Haste, lonely spirit, Haste!

Here, wan and drear, magic spell making,

Findest thou me - shaking, quaking.

Softly fan me as I lie.

And thy mystic touch apply.

Touch apply, and I swear that when I die,

When I die, I will serve thee evermore,

Evermore, in grey wolf land, cold and raw."

Unknown author, found on www dot werewolfpage dot com/myths/rituals dot htm

--

Cody was white as a sheet and shaking when Wolf walked into their room later that night. He was holding a piece of parchment that shook with his hands and the ominous crackling sound let Wolf know that danger had just dropped into their laps.

Cody wordlessly handed Wolf the letter.

_Cody Greengrass, _

_We know what you are. We know that you're a danger to this school. We have no problem outing you to this community. _

_Expect to hear from us presently, werewolf. _

"Shit," Wolf sighed.

Cody whimpered. "How did someone find out?"

"Good question," Wolf frowned. "Who knows that's you're a wolf?"

"Just you, Jeremy, Buddy, Molly, and Feral." Cody looked thoughtful for a second before adding, "Mike and Josh too. No one else, as far as I know."

Wolf walked over to join Cody on his bed with a groan. "We'll start with the people we know, see if any of them have something to do with this. It could be some kid who overheard a private conversation and decided to capitalize on it. We'll figure this out."

Buddy and Jeremy walked into the room then and immediately felt the tension in their roommates.

"What's up?" Buddy asked as he cautiously moved to his bed. Jeremy followed with a curious look at Wolf and Cody.

Wolf took a deep sniff of the room as Cody began to growl a warning low in his throat.

"We have a question to ask," Wolf said softly. The only scent he had picked up was human. A little apprehension, but that could be because of the tension. There certainly wasn't any fear or guilt. If these two were the culprits, they were unconscious ones.

"Ask away," Jeremy smiled, trying to break the pressure in the room.

"By any chance has either of you spoken about the werewolf situation where anyone might overhear?" Wolf looked at them piercingly, hoping to catch a facial expression that would give them away, since scent and hearing gave him nothing.

"No way!" Buddy hissed. "We're not that stupid. The only time we've ever talked about this is with both of you."

Buddy nodded emphatically. "Honest!"

Wolf could smell the truth in their words and sighed. At least that meant his two friends were clean and that his trust in them wasn't unfounded.

"They're telling the truth," Wolf said to Cody. "I'm going to go spend the night with Feral."

"You think Feral did this?" Cody gaped, incredulous that the vampire and Wolf's love would make such a mistake.

"No," Wolf laughed. "I just figured that she'd be the best person to ask for help. Besides, I want her to have a little chat with Mike and Josh, just to see if they've caused a problem."

Cody snorted at the image of what Feral would do to those younger boys. She'd probably have them pissing their pants and promising her their firstborn child within five minutes.

"You go ahead, spend some time with your girlfriend," Cody said with a smirk as he bobbed his eyebrows up and down on his forehead. "I'll explain what's going on here."

Wolf nodded and left.

He snuck down the stairs to the girls' dormitory by carefully balancing on the banister and crawling hand over hand so that the warning spell on the stairs wouldn't activate and send him flying back to the top of the steps. It wasn't difficult for a werewolf to do, but a human would have fallen after a few feet. He pushed open the door to Feral's shared room and was relieved to see that all the other girls were still in the Common Room. Feral was sitting calmly at her desk and turned when the door opened to see who it was.

"Typical male," she sighed. "Only coming to see their girl when they need something."

Wolf spluttered.

"Aw, poor little puppy," Feral laughed. "Get over here."

Wolf dove into her open arms and rubbed his cheek against her head. It had been so long since they had been together and both the human and wolf inside of him were in accord that they needed to mark her as theirs again.

"Annie," Wolf groaned and he clutched her to him tighter, getting his scent all over her.

"Yes, Tristan?" she laughed as she hugged him back just as tightly.

"Annie, this is harder than I thought it would be. All I wanted was to come here, find some werewolves, and fix the injustice against them."

"But now your cousin has been bitten, you have no idea who is changing all these wolves in the first place, and the Ministry is so deeply entrenched in corruption and human-centrism that you'll never accomplish your goal," she finished. "Your dad did warn you, Tris."

"Don't remind me," Wolf moaned. "And it's worse now. Someone's sending Cody blackmail letters. They haven't asked for anything yet, but it's only a matter of time."

Feral sighed. "How do you manage these things? Always in trouble and always needing me to get you out of it."

"It's why I love you, Annie," Wolf said with his best pout.

"That had better not be the only reason," she said with mock sternness. "I'll look into it for you, though. I'll check with Molly and those two new males you've recently started training with."

"And if it's not them?" Wolf asked sadly. "I don't want Cody to suffer for this. As the Alpha it's my problem to deal with."

"Shh. Shut up or I'll have to use you for target practice again." Feral stood and dragged Wolf over to her bed. She lay down and opened her arms for Wolf to crawl into.

"Annie, I-"

"Go to sleep, Tris. I should be strong enough to watch over you for one night, especially since I can still beat you up. Go to sleep and in the morning you'll be ready to take care of this."

"Love you," Wolf mumbled.

"I know. Shut up and go to sleep."

III

"So, so?" Cody laughed and elbowed Wolf as the tri-color haired boy finally sat down to breakfast the next morning.

"So what?" Wolf asked, already dreading the questions after dealing with the high pitched squealing from the other girls in Feral's dorm when he parted her bed hangings this morning.

"So did you have fun last night?" Jeremy snickered as he butt into the conversation with a leer at Wolf.

"You're about to have lots of fun," a cold voice answered. Jeremy looked up just in time to see a knife flash past his nose and imbed itself deep in the wood between his legs, only missing him by mere centimeters.

"Move," Feral snapped. "I want to sit there."

Jeremy gulped and shakily moved over one spot on the bench. Feral yanked the knife from the seat before sitting down next to Wolf.

"And for your information," Feral said with a cold smile as she slid the knife away and reached for breakfast. "Wolf and I did what we always do at night back home."

She waited while their listeners' eyebrows went up eagerly before continuing.

"We cuddled."

"Before or after you had sex?" Cody grinned.

"Mr. Greengrass! Watch your mouth or I'll take points."

Their grins immediately fell as Granger-Weasley made her presence known. Wolf should have figured that it would be her who would ruin their fun.

"And Miss Ano-Feral! Weapons are not allowed in this school. If any evidence is found of your harming someone with those knives, I will have you expelled."

"Yes, Ma'am," Feral said with a roll of her eyes as she turned back towards her breakfast.

"Now, Wolf. What did I tell you about wearing the school uniform? Twenty points from Slytherin and detention tonight with me."

Wolf gaped at her. Granger-Weasley hadn't come over to their table to yell at Cody or Feral; she had come over specifically to give him that detention. The old bint was planning something; he could smell it.

"Did she just-" Cody began.

"The bitch wants something from me," Wolf snarled angrily.

"Don't call me names, Wolf," Granger-Weasley called back from where she was walking down the table. "With a name like yours, you haven't got any right."

"At least my name isn't Hermione. Her-my-own-ee," he sneered. "It doesn't get any odder than that."

She spun around to glare at him but looked taken aback when she saw the disgusted sneer on his face. She absentmindedly shook her finger at him before heading off back to the staff table deep in thought.

Wolf swore. That was something his dad might have said to someone he disliked, especially with the sneer, and Granger-Weasley had been a long recipient of it during their school years together. He might have just jeopardized his mission even more.

"I'll scalp her," Feral hissed, clutching her knife under the table. "I'll rip her limbs off one by one and feed them to you next full moon."

Wolf kissed the top of her head and fell to his breakfast. She swatted at him irritably and stole his muffin.

Then the post came flying into the room.

Wolf had a letter dropped into his breakfast by a large barn owl, but Cody's sharp intake of breath took his attention from his mother's scrawl. He tucked the letter into his pocket and turned towards his whitening friend.

"It's the same writing as before," Cody said as he held the letter away from him with two fingers.

Wolf took a discrete sniff of the letter but he smelled nothing except owl and Cody. Someone had spelled the letter carefully to take away all outside scent, someone who knew the true powers a werewolf and that a sniff of the letter could have told Wolf who the culprit was in a second.

"Put it in your pocket," Feral advised as she took her own sniff and found the same conclusion as Wolf, nothing.

Cody stuffed the letter in his robes and bent his head over his plate. He wasn't eating any more. Neither was Wolf or Feral.

"We've got to do something about this!" Buddy snarled under his breath.

"We will," Wolf growled.

"We definitely will," Feral echoed.

III

Hermione Granger-Weasley looked around her classroom with a smirk on her face. Detention tonight would be very informative.

She had disgusting things to clean, anti-Slytherin dogma from the Quibblers Hermione had saved from when she was still in school, and, most importantly, a live animal to take care of.

She would prove that Draco Malfoy had returned to this school, she would! True, he was under spells to change his hair and some minor facial features, but the attitude and personality underneath was all Draco Malfoy.

If he didn't balk at mandatory labor, he would snarl and curse at the article in which Harry had fingered Lucius Malfoy, Draco's father, as an evil Death Eater. If he somehow managed to stay unfazed after all that, she would give him the little wolf cub she had found in the forest to take care of, something that the Draco Malfoy she remembered would never have done; responsibility was never one of his strong suits.

She would catch him and then put him in Azkaban where he deserved to rot next to all his Death Eater friends.

She would catch that snotty little ferret if it were the last thing she ever did!

III

Past:

Ginny howled with pain. Her wolf wanted out, now, but with the baby only six months along she didn't dare.

The door was flung open and Draco rushed into the room. Her wolf instantly calmed enough that she wasn't making Ginny feel like her insides were being shredded when it felt Draco's presence.

"Ginny," Draco gasped as he reached for her hand. "It's okay. We can do this."

Ginny squeezed his hand back and groaned. Now she knew why Ben's wife had died in the sixth month. After three full moons of not being allowed to change, her wolf considered their contract broken and had decided to take control of their shared body. Ginny obviously wasn't allowing this, but it made for a painful struggle all the same.

Her wolf made another play and Ginny's back arched as she screamed and fought to stay human. She clutched at Draco's hand and felt some bones snap. Draco hissed but held on until the wolf gave up this time. Then he switched hands and waited for the bones to knit in his other one before flexing it.

A gentle knock sounded on the door and Lynx pushed it open, followed by Jessie and her newborn baby.

"Oh, Jessie," Ginny said as she saw the tiny hand clutching at the blanket wrapped around the small form.

"This is Anne," Jessie said as she held the bundle out for Ginny to see. The little girl inside had Jessie's brown hair and her father's brilliant blue eyes. Ginny gently reached forward to brush her finger against Anne's forehead.

"She's beautiful, Jessie," Ginny whispered, hoping that her son would be just as amazing.

"She can't decide if she likes blood or baby formula better, but we're coping," Jessie said as Ginny's caressing hand slid over the baby's hair.

:?:

Ginny gasped and jumped. Her wolf had just sent out a mental query, wanting to know what was going on. Ginny relinquished a little of her hold so the wolf could look out her eyes. This didn't seem like a power play. The open curiosity and wonder her wolf exuded let Ginny know that it might be a good idea to let the wolf see what was going on inside of Ginny's belly.

This time it was the wolf that gently brushed a lock of hair away from Anne's forehead.

:!:

Ginny closed her eyes and automatically began breathing in the sevens pattern as she dove inside to talk to her wolf.

"This is what we are trying to protect by not changing to wolf," Ginny tried to convey. "We will have a cub of our own to take care of."

"Want," the wolf hissed. "Want mine."

Ginny gently guided the wolf's mind to where a new mind was just beginning to form. The wolf purred as it circled the little bundle eagerly, sniffing and rubbing against it.

"Try," the wolf said. "Will try no run, no hunt. Try."

Ginny tearfully hugged her wolf. "Thank you. We will have this cub and then we will run and hunt as much as you like." The wolf licked Ginny on the face before turning away to go circle around the unborn baby protectively.

The wolf finally went to sleep and Ginny rose back to the surface with a smile on her face and tears in her eyes.

"Ginny, are you okay?" Draco asked immediately.

"I'm fine, I'm great!" Ginny laughed. "My wolf wants this baby too. She told me she'll try not to break free."

Draco laughed. "That's wonderful! Now all we have to worry about are the full moons!"

"And that is why I am here," the Coven Leader's voice called from the doorway as the robed figure walked into the room. "As promised, the Coven has found a solution. By the powers of the Goddess, we have found a spell that will hide you from the moon twice."

"Thank you," Ginny gasped. If she had her baby a month early then this was starting to look feasible.

The Coven Leader nodded and departed just as quickly as the Leader had appeared. This left an ecstatic Ginny and Draco hugging on Ginny's bed. Lynx clapped Draco on the back before hugging his wife.

Ben just looked shell shocked as he was left holding the baby.

III

Ben left the room to give Ginny, Draco, Jessie, and Caracal time together. Little Anne was cradled in his arms, asleep and happy, so Ben took her with him. He sat down at the kitchen table and sighed.

Years and years ago, back when he and Caracal had been human, they had been closer than brothers. They had grown up together, played together, and, when they were old enough, shared their girls together.

Then they had found out about the magical world.

Drunk well beyond coherency from frequenting all the pups jolly ole London had to service young drunks like them, they had wandered down a back alley just in time to see a wolf become a man.

In the morning they woke nursing aching heads and fighting away the incredulity of their shared dream. They had been drunk and strange things happened to your mind when you were drunk. They dismissed the man-wolf, said a few 'God save the King' s and went on with their lives.

When Ben had fallen in love and found out that his intended changed into a wolf once a month he was honestly surprised. But Ben loved his little Mary even when she had more teeth than he, so he asked her to change him and Caracal into what she was.

Caracal found the entire thing to be hilarious; his blood brother had fallen in love with a girl who was half wolf and half woman. He refused to be left behind and had said he was eagerly ready to become a wolf and eat rabbits without cooking them first.

The night of the full moon came and Ben was there in the clearing with his soon to be pack and with beautiful Mary holding his hand. They waited as long as possible as the moon rose in the sky, but Caracal never appeared. It seemed the fool had chickened out and was okay with Ben leaving him behind for the first time in their admittedly short lives.

Mary had changed when the call of the moon finally overcame her strength and had bitten him with all the care her sharp teeth could give. Ben became a werewolf, proud of his power and a servant to the moon and his wolf.

The morning after he went in search of Caracal, but couldn't find him. The fool must have run away in fear, Ben thought sadly. Then, as first a week, then a month, then years passed, Ben sneered at the thought of Caracal, so afraid of his blood brother and beloved wife that he wouldn't return even to apologize.

Fifty years later the werewolves had an…altercation…with the local vampire coven. A young wolf had been bitten and killed, drained dry and left to rot in a gutter. A vampire had been staked out in the sun to fry and there were claw marks all around what was left of the body.

The war that followed affected even non-magical London. The local papers had headlines saying, 'Mysterious Killer Stalks the Streets'. The local Wizarding government had even gotten involved and began its long process of capturing and killing any and all vampires and werewolves they could get their hands on, all in the name of saving lives, of course, because both werewolves and vampires were beings without control over their evil natures that killed and ate indiscriminately.

Mary and Ben had been battling one night, deep down a darkened alley, when a familiar face appeared. Caracal almost decapitated Mary with his long fangs and left a cut on Ben's stomach that took a full week for his wolf to heal. His blood brother had betrayed them for the enemy, the bastard.

The Wizarding government was powerful, very, very powerful. Alone, neither the werewolves nor the vampires could stop them from systematically exterminating their people. This was, perhaps, the only reason the war ended so smoothly. Together they were still too weak to fight off the might of the spells, but together they could escape. The New World didn't have any Wizards yet; they hadn't even bothered trying to get a foothold there, not when they had such secure homes already.

The Wicca witches, who had faced the same prosecution, had made it safely overseas. Why couldn't the vampires and werewolves? Working together they commissioned a ship and painstakingly made their way to the Americas. They made a pact with each other, and, when they safely made it, they made a pact with the Wicca as well. The yearly conclave was a main result of that.

But Ben had never forgiven Caracal for almost killing his beloved mate. They never reconciled. When Ben found out that Mary was pregnant, and then found out that she was dying, Caracal should have been the one to hold Ben's hand. Caracal should have been the shoulder to cry on, rather than being alone, as Ben had been.

Two weeks after Mary was in the ground, Caracal found Ben crying in the woods. Caracal had sneered at Ben's weakness, had laughed when the poor, helpless wolf had cried, and had turned his back on his oldest friend.

It was only thirty years later that Ben found out that for the first hundred years of their un-life, vampires were literally an extension of their maker. Caracal had merely been acting as his maker would have.

But the hurt Ben felt was real and he refused to open himself up to Caracal ever again.

The baby yawned cutely and snuggled closer to Ben's chest. He looked down at the little thing and couldn't stop his jealousy. His child had died. His wife had died. Now Caracal, uncaring Caracal, had everything Ben wanted. Caracal had a wife, a child, and a best friend in Draco. Even Draco had a wife, would have a child very soon, and a best friend in Caracal. What did Ben have?

Nothing.

"You'll be her Godfather, right?" Caracal's voice called from the doorway. Ben turned to look incredulously at the vampire.

"You're the only one I would consider," Caracal said wistfully. "I know you've never forgiven me for what happened, but I miss you, you know. I don't want my daughter to miss out just because I became a vampire instead of a werewolf."

"But your daughter's a vampire. I'm a werewolf. What do I know about raising a blood drinker?"

"That doesn't matter!" Caracal stepped quickly forward to stand in front of Ben. "You'll care for her as a human, not as a monster or a creature to be studied. I don't want to leave her to the coven. I don't want to leave her to Draco or Ginny. You, Ben. Please."

Ben felt a little of his pain wash away at Caracal's words. He wasn't alone, not really, but he was apart.

Little Anne woke up then and whimpered. Her tiny fist went to her mouth and she began sucking on it with little mewling cries.

"Bottle time!" Caracal said cheerfully. He took Anne from Ben and went to find the diaper bag before she started screaming.

"Yes, I'll gladly be her godfather," Ben said even though he couldn't look at Caracal as he said it. He felt Caracal's smile, despite the fact that it was fleeting because Anne let out an audible sniffle so he rushed to find the bottle before it got any worse.

It was a start towards rebuilding a relationship that had so many broken pieces that it seemed like an impossible task. Still, Ben felt a little better now.

He felt even better a few weeks later when Draco asked Ben the same question of his son. He was wanted, needed even, and that made him happy.

III

Draco's first description of his son would always be pink because that was the first thing he said when he held his son in his arms for the first time. The little squalling boy was pink in the face from crying. Somehow, Ginny had managed to have her son wrapped in a pink blanket, instead of the customary blue.

And his hair was… "Pink?"

Ginny's exhausted laugh informed Draco that he was neglecting her. He quickly rushed over to put their son in her arms. She had worked the hardest, after all, so she deserved his attention and their son in her arms.

Ginny's arms went around their son protectively as she cooed at him. Suddenly her eyes blazed gold and the wolf looked at Draco once with approval before rumbling something happy at the baby.

The baby yawned, turned into a baby wolf, and nuzzled his mother's breast.

Ginny's gasp told Draco that he wasn't seeing things because she was holding a human baby boy now, instead of the wolf that had been there seconds ago.

"Did he just?" Draco asked for confirmation.

"I- I think so," Ginny replied, shocked.

"We are going to have an interesting time at this parenting thing," Draco said as he climbed into bed to lie against his wife and child. He was glad that both his hands had healed already so it didn't hurt to cuddle them both to his chest.

"Our little Tristan is going to be someone someday," Ginny said with a nod.

"Tristan?" Draco asked musingly. "I like it. Our little Tristan, werewolf and boy and our little angel."

--

A.N. I hope you like the beginnings of little Tristan, aka Wolf and little Anne, aka Feral. In the next couple chapters you'll really start getting an insight into their relationship.

Did you know that there isn't a term for killing your Aunt? I wanted to make an off color joke about Feral killing Hermione being the Latin word for killing your Aunt but I couldn't find the term anywhere! Avunculicide is killing your Uncle, and there are terms for killing mothers, fathers, siblings, and children, but nothing for killing your Aunt. It was depressing. Anyway, now you can imagine the joke and if anyone knows of the term, please tell me so that I can add it in!

Mell8


	11. Chapter 11

Wolf Lord

Chapter Eleven

By Mell8

--

"Come, spirit so powerful! come, spirit so dread.

From the home of the werewolf, the home of the dead.

Come, Give me thy blessing! come, lend me thine ear!

Oh spirit of darkness! oh spirit so drear!

Come, mighty phantom! come, great Unknown!

Come from thy dwelling so gloomy and lone.

Come, I beseech thee; depart from thy lair.

And body and soul shall be thine, I declare.

Haste, Haste, Haste, horrid spirit, Haste!

Speed, Speed, Speed, scaring spirit, speed!

Fast, Fast, Fast, fateful spirit, fast!"

Unknown author, taken from www dot werewolfpage dot com/myths/rituals dot htm

--

_Tris, _

_I hope you're having fun at school and are learning a lot. I hope you're safe and haven't gotten into trouble just yet. Your father and I can't get over there to get you out of trouble, as you already know, so stay out of prison. Now that I've gotten the mandatory mothering out of the way I think I should tell you the real reason for this letter. _

_Your sisters have vanished. I know, I know, usually they're off doing their own thing and your father finds them and reminds them to go home after a couple of days. Your father can't find them this time. Our best guess is that they followed Anne overseas, so please expect them in a few days! _

_Love, _

_Mummy_

Wolf looked down at the letter in his hands and groaned. This was the last thing he needed right now.

Feral coming over was a godsend, especially since Cody was being blackmailed and Feral was the queen of subterfuge. Molly getting bitten and Mike and Josh joining his pack were manageable issues.

His two younger twin sisters, however, were disasters waiting to happen.

Plus, Cody's new blackmail letter had made the situation even worse.

_Werewolf,_

_I see you laughing with your friends, as if you were human still. How would they feel if they knew the truth of what you really are? I want you, werewolf, to do something for me or everyone will find out. _

_Wear white tomorrow if you agree to these terms. _

Feral snatched his letter from home out of his hands and read it over with a groan.

"Damn," she mumbled as she ran a hand through her blue hair. "Alright, this complicates things. Go to detention, Wolf, and I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks Feral," Wolf sighed and left the Common Room to go to the Transfiguration professor's office. Granger-Weasley was waiting.

He walked slowly so that he wouldn't be early and waited outside her office for a few minutes before knocking.

"Enter," Granger-Weasley's stern voice called. Wolf sneered when he caught a hint of excitement behind her words. The bitch definitely had something planned. "You're right on time, Wolf," she continued as Wolf pushed open the door and walked to stand in front of her desk. "I've already set everything out in my classroom. If you'll follow me?"

She stood and led the way from her office into her classroom. Wolf walked in behind her and wrinkled his nose at the smell.

"My second years were transfiguring toads today," she said with a smirk. "The poor things got a little scared, and scared toads tend to make a mess. I need you to scrub all the desks and the floor around them, no magic."

Wolf nodded and wondered if she was just forcing him to do manual labor for her own sadistic pleasure.

"When you've finished that I need you to do something personal for me. I have a stack of old magazines and newspaper articles. I need you to organize them by magazine and by publication date." She pointed off into a corner of the room where a towering stack of papers stood, just waiting to give Wolf a paper cut.

"I'll just be sitting here at my desk, grading papers," she finished with a smirk. "Have fun."

She walked over to her desk and was about to sit down when a whimper made both her and Wolf look to the far corner of the room where she kept her live animals for advanced transfigurations. Sitting in a cage that was slightly too small, squished between a cage of an eagle owl and a cat, was a small wolf cub.

"Oh dear," Granger-Weasley said with a sigh that let Wolf know that she was lying. "It seems that I forgot to feed the wolf I found in the Forbidden Forest. If you could feed it for me as well as your other chores?"

She settled into her desk chair and Wolf rushed across the room. He pulled the cage out from between the other animals and carefully unlocked the door. He sniffed the wolf and smelled filth and magic. She wasn't a werewolf, but any creature of the Forbidden Forest was more than it seemed. He reached into the cage and let her bite him to let her taste his blood so she knew that he was powerful as well.

Granger-Weasley gasped behind him, which let wolf know that she was watching him closely rather than grading her papers, so when the wolf cub let go, Wolf waited a second for the marks to heal before showing her his hand.

"No worries, Professor," he said with a smirk. "She was just playing around."

He let the wolf out of the cage and put her on the floor. After a bath she would be beautiful. Right now, however, she stank

Wolf walked over to the bucket of water and a sponge and got to work on the desks. He did enough cleaning up after his sisters; he didn't mind a little scrubbing. There were only twenty desks to wash and it didn't take him very long to finish those and the floor. Then, instead of moving on to the magazines, he grabbed the wolf by the scruff of her neck and dumped the baby into the half filled bucket of water. He gently took the sponge to her hide and scrubbed until her glossy brown fir shone and she smelled of soap rather than stink. The wolf whimpered and cried but still seemed to enjoy the attention and the water. She licked at Wolf's hands and eagerly rolled onto her back for him to wash her stomach.

When he was done he let the wolf go and smirked as she walked over to Granger-Weasley's feet before shaking out her fur. The Professor's squawk made Wolf smirk and he happily ruffled the wolf's fur when she came back to him.

"The magazines, Wolf," Granger-Weasley snarled as she pulled out her wand to blast both her robes and the wolf cub dry.

Wolf walked over to the magazines while the wolf gave Granger-Weasley a reproachful look before following Wolf.

The second Wolf saw the cover of the first Quibbler on the pile he knew what Granger-Weasley's plan was. A picture that looked like his father, but wasn't quite him, sneered at Wolf from the cover.

So this was Lucius Malfoy, the grandfather that his parents never really spoke about except to say that he hadn't been a good man. Now Wolf understood why his father always kept his hair short and prided himself on the slight upturn of his straight nose, because Lucius Malfoy had long hair and a nose that could double as a knife.

Wolf tossed the magazine to his left and pulled an ancient copy of the Daily Prophet off next. This one was opened to an old article describing the attack on Hogwarts when Dumbledore had died and how both Severus Snape and Draco Malfoy were believed to be the culprits. Wolf kept his expression blank, he had heard all of this before and didn't want to give Granger-Weasley the satisfaction of seeing that he was getting angry.

He folded up the Prophet to the front page and tossed it to his right.

From then on he barely glanced at the cover long enough to see which pile the paper belonged in before tossing it aside. The pile slowly dwindled as Wolf worked.

Once every paper was sorted he went to each individual stack and began the process of organizing by publication date. It was just busy work and it took a while, but Wolf worked diligently and had it done within an hour and a half.

Granger-Weasley looked incensed at her desk. She obviously hadn't gotten the results she wanted from this little experiment of hers. Wolf wasn't stupid. He knew that the Draco Malfoy Granger-Weasley knew would have balked at physical labor of any type, would have snarled and swore at every defamatory article, and would have ignored the wolf cub as long as he possibly could. The Draco Malfoy Wolf knew had changed from how he acted as a school boy, and Wolf certainly wasn't his father, so of course Granger-Weasley hadn't gotten the right results for her little experiment.

"I've finished," Wolf called as he stood from the two organized piles and walked over to her desk. "Can I go now?"

Granger-Weasley nodded and watched as Wolf walked out her classroom door, braid swinging and the absence of his uniform blatantly apparent, with the wolf cub trailing along behind.

After the door closed she snarled and jabbed her wand at the stacks of magazines, watching as they burst into flame and wishing that it were enough to assuage her anger.

Nothing had gone right, nothing. Wolf hadn't done more than wrinkle his nose at the stench of toad pee, hadn't even hesitated when he saw the condition of the wolf cub, and hadn't even complained about a single paper cut, let alone snarl at the contents of the articles.

It was almost as if he wasn't Draco Malfoy, but that was impossible right?

"Hey, Hermione," Ron called as he pushed open the door from her office. "What're you doing in here?"

"I was giving Wolf a detention. I wanted to see if he was really Draco Malfoy in disguise."

"That's impossible," Ron shook his head with a sigh. "Somehow Dad's convinced that he's Ginny's son."

"Ginny's son!" Hermione gasped. "But that would mean that she's alive."

"Alive and kicking, according to Wolf and my Dad," Ron said with a shake of his head.

"But he looks and acts so much like Draco Malfoy!" Hermione moaned. "That would mean that Ginny and Malfoy-"

"No one knows where either of them are," Ron sighed. "It's possible that they're hiding together. I just don't see Ginny willingly having anything to do with him!"

"But Wolf convinced your Dad that she was okay," Hermione mused. "Either Wolf is lying or we're mistaking Malfoy qualities for a mixture of Percy and Fred and George's personalities."

"I hope you're right," Ron shook his head. "I really hope you're right."

III

Wolf walked away from the Transfiguration classroom with a groan. His arms didn't hurt but that was only because he was used to doing intense work. It was his head that really hurt. He was angry, so very angry, at Granger-Weasley. His wolf's protective instincts were raging, causing even more problems.

He heard footsteps and stopped to sniff the air. Ronald Weasley was coming down the hall to see his wife.

Wolf quickly picked up the wolf cub and hid behind a suit of armor until his Uncle had passed by.

When he slid out Wolf was calmer and the wolf cub was squirming for freedom. Wolf let her go and bent down to her level.

"What's your name?" he asked, knowing that she wasn't really a wolf but wasn't a werewolf either.

The wolf cub looked at him thoughtfully before a soft glimmering green light enveloped her. When the light faded a young child sat on the floor where the wolf cub had once been. But this wasn't a human child; she looked like a forest Nymph with her brown hair and green skin.

"I'm Minthe," the child said in a soft voice that reminded Wolf of wind rustling the leaves of a tree.

"I'm Wolf," Wolf replied. "I didn't know Nymphs could change into wolves."

"We usually can't," the girl relied as she got to her feet. She sounded older than she looked as if she were the same age as Wolf despite her outward appearance. "But my great-grandmother was the original Minthe and she has always been loved by the Greek Pantheon. All of her children receive a special gift. I was given the gift of shape changing. I change into a wolf whenever I want to."

"And I'm guessing that the Professor found you when your were a wolf and captured you?" Wolf said disgustedly. Granger-Weasley was getting worse and worse every time he heard something about her.

"I was asleep and didn't hear her," Minthe said sadly. "I'm only forty," she continued on in a rush as if to justify her mistake. Wolf just reeled. Only forty? She was older than his parents and she had the body of a seven year old! "I won't be full grown for at least eighty more years. I'm allowed to make a mistake."

"Of course you are," Wolf soothed. "I'll take you outside so you can go back home now."

"Oh," the Nymph sighed. "I'm not allowed. I have to help someone with their quest first. It's the rules." She sounded sad, as if it were impossible, before perking up and glancing shyly at Wolf. "But you're on a quest, aren't you? I could help you find out who's blackmailing your friend. That would help your quest, wouldn't it?"

Wolf stared at her, shocked for a second at the fact that she not only knew he was on a "quest" but that Cody was being blackmailed.

"It would help a lot," Wolf said once he found his voice again.

"Wonderful. Take me back to your living space and I'll begin immediately."

There was a flash of light and suddenly the wolf cub was back. Wolf gently picked Minthe up and carried her back to his dorm room, hoping that she would be able to solve this mystery.

Because there was no way Cody was wearing any white tomorrow.

III

Past:

"UHWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

"AROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

"UHWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

"Your turn, dear," Ginny mumbled and pulled Draco's pillow over her head to try to block out some of the screaming. Tristan was a beautiful child but his mixture of screaming and howling was driving her crazy.

"It was my turn last time," Draco whimpered and tried to snatch his pillow back.

"And he hasn't stopped screaming since then," Ginny replied. "Your turn hasn't ended yet."

"Damn you," Draco sighed and got up to go try and shut his son up.

Two hours later Ginny gave up on trying to sleep and went to join her husband downstairs. Draco was walking in circles around the various rooms, gently patting Tristan's back when he was human and rubbing his ears when he was wolf.

The newborn was still crying and howling even after all this time. Ginny gently took him from Draco to let her husband go upstairs to try and get some sleep.

"Tristan, please. There's nothing to be crying about," Ginny whispered in his ear. "Everything's okay!" His cries didn't even lower one decibel at her words.

The doorbell went off and Ginny only heard it because Tristan took a deep breath before letting out his next cry. Glad for the distraction, Ginny rushed to the door and opened it.

Jessie and Anne were outside and Ginny quickly let them in before either baby could take a cold from the pre-dawn air.

"I'd ask how it's going, but since I can't hear myself think…" Jessie yelled over Tristan's cries. Anne whimpered warningly from her bundle of blankets before letting out a cry of her own.

"Damn it!" Draco snarled as he stomped downstairs and heard both babies crying. "Ginny, I love you and I love Tristan, but this is why my parents had house elves to take care of me when I was born!"

Ginny would have retorted with something caustic if she couldn't see the deep lines of exhaustion that lined his face. He was so tired that he couldn't control his words any more and was reverting back to his childhood. Draco needed sleep and as long as Tristan kept crying he certainly wouldn't be getting any.

Jessie seemed to realize this as well and smiled. "Draco, Lynx is home alone and the guest bedroom has clean sheets on the bed. I'm sure Lynx won't mind the company of your snores."

"But Ginny," Draco said, as least still remembering that he had duties to his wife despite his exhausted regression to childhood.

"Go, Draco. I'll be alright," Ginny said as she cradled her squirming wolf cub to her chest.

"Thanks," Draco mumbled as he staggered out of the house.

"Put Tristan down for a second and lets get a cup of tea," Jessie said once Draco was gone. "He won't suffer being out of your arms for ten minutes."

Ginny nodded and gratefully put her son down in his playpen. She tried to cover him with a blanket and give him a stuffed toy to snuggle, but he quickly kicked them away. Jessie put Anne down in the pen as well, but made sure to put her out of reach of the wolf's claws.

Both mothers resolutely turned their back on their screaming children to get a cup of tea and some aspirin. The babies were tucked away safe in an immovable playpen with nothing around that they could swallow and choke on and nothing that could harm them. Despite those facts, both mothers felt guilty leaving their child behind so they could get some comfort.

Chamomile tea was the clear answer to their pains and both women settled at the kitchen table nursing a cup. They sat in silence for a while, just waiting for the tea's restorative properties to work. Ginny was halfway through her cup before she realized that they were sitting in silence.

Why wasn't Tristan screaming? She was worried, of course, but she was also hopeful that her son had finally found something that would shut him up.

"Jessie…" Ginny murmured quietly. "I can hear myself think."

"That's nice," Jessie said as she bent her nose over her tea and happily took a whiff of the wonderful steam. "Wait- what?"

Ginny was already on her feet, tiptoeing back to the family room where the playpen was. Together, Ginny and Jessie arched their necks over the pen, hoping not to see blood.

Tristan was asleep, which was wonderful. Anne was asleep as well, which certainly made Jessie happy. But what made both mothers happy were the wedding plans that began to run through their minds.

Anne had somehow managed to squirm over to where Tristan was crying and had wrapped an arm around the werewolf. Tristan had snuggled himself into her shoulder and had gone to sleep.

Both women immediately thought of the mate bonds that had drawn them to their own respective husbands and saw it echoed on their children. They clasped hands and squealed quietly.

Draco came home eight hours later, looking refreshed and rested. He walked in on Ginny and Jessie discussing the promise they had both made to the Wicca coven. As soon as their children were old enough, they were gong to be entered into the school system the Wicca coven ran for the nearby town that only Wicca families lived in. But neither of their children were Wicca and Ginny didn't know if either of them could even do magic with a wand, let alone without one. A vampire and a werewolf would certainly have an interesting time together and both Ginny and Jessie considered their children to be lucky that they had each other.

"Hey, um, Jessie," Draco said with a worried look on his face as he interrupted their conversation. "Should Anne be sucking on my son's neck?"

"She won't hurt him," Ginny said with a smile, knowing that a mating bond made it impossible for them to hurt each other.

"Anne had a good drink right before we came over here," Jessie added. "She won't take more than a mouthful."

"Alright," Draco said, looking like he was missing something, which he probably was. "So, what made Tristan stop crying?"

Ginny laughed. "He and Anne get along wonderfully. Anne shut him up really quickly."

"My son's no pansy," Draco snapped.

"No, of course not," Ginny laughed. She wouldn't tell Draco the real reason just yet. She wanted to give him time to beat girls off of his son with a stick before he knew about the bond.

Jessie stood and gave Draco a pat on the back. "Well, unlike you lot, I'm nocturnal. I hope you don't mind if I avail myself of the bed in your basement."

"Go right ahead," Ginny said with a laugh. She hadn't realized how late it was because all the blinds had been drawn. "Ben's coming over to baby-sit tonight, if you and Lynx want to join Draco and me for dinner and a movie?"

"I'll mention it to him later," Jessie said with a yawn. She waved her thanks and made her way to the basement.

"So," Draco said as he sidled over to Ginny with a grin on his face. "Now that we have quiet and we're alone…is there something you want to do?"

Ginny smiled at Draco and kissed him on his nose. He may have gotten hours of sleep today but Ginny certainly hadn't. She also remembered what had gotten them into this situation where they weren't getting any sleep in the first place.

"Good night, Draco," Ginny said with a smile as she stood and went upstairs to bed. "Make sure that Anne doesn't drain Tristan dry and that Tristan doesn't claw at her, will you?"

Ginny disappeared up the stairs and Draco groaned and went to grab a book before settling himself on the couch right next to the playpen. He wondered if it was like this for all fathers. Did other fathers have to get up at awful hours to walk in circles with their screaming child? Did other fathers have to escape to a friend's house to get some sleep? Did other fathers get denied sex just because the mother was scared off children for a while? And did other fathers get forced into baby watching duty while the mother did her own thing?

Draco was going to assume that they were all yes's and that Ginny wasn't simply taking advantage of his love for his newborn son to escape for a while.

Still, now that he had gotten over the pink hair, Draco had to admit that if Ginny wanted to disappear for a few hours and leave him with Tristan, well that would be all right.

Ben walked into the Malfoy household and pulled out his earplugs in surprise. Knocking at the door hadn't gotten any response so Ben had let himself in, figuring that Tristan's screaming had masked the sound. He was met with silence and Ben began to hope that this babysitting job Ginny had begged him to take wouldn't be so bad after all.

Ben made his way into the family room where he heard faint cooing sounds. Draco was passed out on the couch with a book on his chest and his mouth open. One of Draco's hands was inside the playpen.

Inside the playpen Tristan and Anne were happily cooing at each other. Tristan was sucking on one of Draco's fingers, which made Anne giggle happily.

Ben saw Tristan start to change into a wolf and grimaced as he backed away. Draco's finger was still in the boy's mouth as the boy's teeth sharpened. Anne giggled at this development. Tristan gave another suck, only it was really more of a bite because wolves don't have the ability to suck.

Draco swore and jumped up into the air. He snarled and cradled his finger while Anne laughed and Tristan gurgled.

"I think he's hungry," Ben said with a laugh. He bent over and picked up the wolf cub, who changed into a boy in Ben's hands.

"Well, you're just in time then," Draco grumbled as he licked off the blood on his finger, revealing the healed flesh underneath. "I'm going to go see how Ginny's doing. You know where the formula is. Don't let Anne suck Tristan dry and don't let Tristan claw her," he added, reiterating Ginny's advice.

Draco ran upstairs leaving Ben with a hungry baby werewolf and a hungry baby vampire. He sighed, bent down to pick up Anne, and went into the kitchen to find baby food.

"Your parents get to have all the fun and I'm stuck with you two," Ben cooed at them with a happy smile. "We're going to have lots of fun tonight."


	12. Chapter 12

Wolf Lord

Chapter Twelve

By Mell8

--------------------

Fenrir- a monstrous wolf of Norse mythology. He was the son of the demoniac god Loki and a giantess, Angerboda. Fearing Fenrir's strength and knowing that only evil could be expected of him, the gods bound him with a magical chain made of the sound of a cat's footsteps, the beard of a woman, the breath of fish, and other occult elements.

When the chain was placed upon him, Fenrir bit off the hand of the god Tyr. He was gagged with a sword and was destined to lie bound to a rock until the Ragnarök (Doomsday), when he will break his bonds and fall upon the gods.

According to one version of the myth, Fenrir will devour the sun, and in the Ragnarök he will fight against the chief god Odin and swallow him. Odin's son Vidar will avenge his father, stabbing the wolf to the heart according to one account and tearing his jaws asunder according to another.

Fenrir figures prominently in Norwegian and Icelandic poetry of the 10th and 11th centuries, and the poets speak apprehensively of the day when he will break loose.

.com/EBchecked/topic/204308/Fenrir

---------------------

Present:

Wolf woke up the next morning with Feral in his bed. It wasn't a bad thing, he enjoyed waking up with her whenever he could, but it was even better because her fangs were out.

"I'm hungry," she murmured, pressing her face into Wolf's neck.

"So drink, love," Wolf said as he brought a hand up to gently caress the back of her head.

He felt her fangs against his neck for a second, a little pinch of pain, and then…ecstasy. Wolf moaned as his head rolled back and his hands entangled in Feral's hair, pulling her closer. The pull of blood through his neck pulled strings much lower in his body and it took all his self-control to keep from rolling over and ripping Feral's clothes off.

Cody rolled over in bed to see what the commotion was and snickered. "That good huh?"

Feral pulled back with a grin and gently licked the lingering blood away from Wolf's neck as the cuts healed almost immediately.

"It's very good," she murmured. Wolf only groaned and rolled over onto his stomach to hide his arousal from her. Feral looked down at the curious wolf pup laying on the very end on Wolf's bed, immediately caught on that it was a girl and not really a wolf at all, and scooped Minthe up.

"Us girls are going to go leave you boys to pretty yourselves up for the day," Feral said with a smile as she stroked Minthe's ears. "We're going to have a little chat," she added, motioning towards the Nymph.

Once Feral left, Wolf stood and went to gather his things for a cold shower.

"So, she bites you a lot then?" Cody asked with a salacious grin.

"Only when she has to," Wolf answered as he searched under his bed for a clean smelling pair of boxers. It was definitely laundry time. "She gets enough from human food that she really only needs blood once a month."

"Vampires can eat human food?" Cody asked, his academic side coming to the fore at this new tidbit of information.

"Hardly," Wolf laughed. "For most of them it's blood or nothing. Feral's a born vampire, like I'm a born werewolf. We tend to break some rules."

"Hey," Buddy said as he rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Was Feral in here? And why did she have a puppy in her arms?"

Jeremy laughed and threw his pillow at Buddy. "Feral wanted a little Wolfy snack," he said as he snapped his teeth together meaningfully. "And then she took the dog Wolf showed up with after detention."

"What dog?" Buddy asked as he finally sat up.

"Minthe wasn't a dog. She was a- a wolf cub," Wolf decided against having to explain that she was a Nymph, "and she's offered to help out with finding the person blackmailing Cody."

"So now you can talk to regular wolves too?" Jeremy asked as he yanked his pillow back from Buddy.

"Something like that," Wolf mumbled before rushing off to the showers.

When Wolf returned from his shower he found that Cody had borrowed his black Anarchy t-shirt and that Buddy and Jeremy were in the copying mood and had plundered two of Wolf's other black anti-conformity shirts. Buddy's had a deformed skull on his and Jeremy's had a red and black guitar emblazoned on his chest.

Wolf sighed and got out his black shirt with the glaring yellow eyes on it. He might as well run with the trend.

They met Feral downstairs and she was wearing a black, "will work for blood", t-shirt. How she had known they were all dressing up in black today Wolf would never know, but the shirt looked good on her.

Minthe now had a black ribbon around her neck and looked pleased that she had been included.

Molly was waiting eagerly in the Entrance Hall and Feral tossed her another black shirt. Apparently Molly was in on the fun too. Molly caught the shirt and pulled it on over her other one, then did the awkward wiggle thing where she pulled the other shirt off without flashing anybody.

Feral took the old shirt from Molly and banished it back to Molly's room. Molly was now wearing a black t-shirt that said, "bite me, I dare you".

They made quite a stir as they entered the Great Hall for breakfast. Everyone gaped at them and Granger-Weasley had a small fit up at the staff table. Zabini gave Wolf a discrete thumbs up but quickly turned back to his breakfast when Granger-Weasley started berating him for his student's actions.

"But one of them is a Gryffindor," Zabini helpfully pointed out as Molly took a seat next to Feral. "And one of them is a dog," he added when Minthe wiggled her way onto the table and jumped into a bowl of fruit.

Granger-Weasley's face went bright red as she zeroed in on her niece and on the wolf pup Wolf had stolen from her last night.

"No uniforms, wild animals at the table, and corrupting my family," she snarled. "I'll get him for this." Her glare switched to Wolf and Zabini thought it might be a good idea to tell Wolf to lay low for a while, at least until Granger-Weasley's fury died down.

"Aside from Granger-Weasley, I don't see anyone else glaring at us," Cody murmured. "I think it's safe to say I'm not wearing white. I wonder when this blackmailer is going to make a move?"

"We just got here," Feral smirked. "Give it time."

"Too much time and I'll explode from worry," Buddy admitted as he helped Minthe get out of the bowl of fruit with an apple clutched tightly in her mouth.

"Since when do dogs eat apples?" Cody asked as he took the fruit from the Nymph and cut it into slices.

"She's a vegetarian," Wolf explained with a knowing smile that made Cody glower.

"What aren't you telling us?" Cody grumbled.

"A lot, actually," Feral grinned. "Did you know that he has two sisters?"

"Feral!" Wolf snapped. "Don't tell them that!"

"Why not? Aren't the little fuzz balls going to be here soon?"

"I'm hoping they get terribly, horribly lost," Wolf groaned. "Maybe they'll be captured by a dragon and be forced to become part of his hoard?" he said excitedly. "Then I won't have to deal with them!"

"Sisters?" Molly said wistfully. "I've always wanted a sister."

"Yeah, that's what my mum always said to me," Wolf replied. "Don't worry, Tris," he said in a higher voice that let everyone know he was emulating his mother. "I'm having another little boy for you to play with."

"Then she went and had twin sisters for you," Feral laughed. "You were so happy until you realized they were girls."

"Shut up," Wolf grumbled. He tucked into his breakfast with more gusto then strictly necessary and everyone around him followed suit.

The morning post came and a letter was dropped in front of all the boys in Wolf's dorm. Wolf tentatively reached out to open his.

_New Kid,_

_I can understand your wanting to fit in, but the freak, Cody, doesn't deserve your trust. Has he told you what he is? WEREWOLF! _

_I warned you, so abandon him while you're still alive._

"Shit," Jeremy swore and held out his letter for Wolf to read. It had the same message, although with words more suited towards Jeremy.

Wolf and Feral sniffed the letters but weren't surprised when they didn't find any scent at all.

"My letter says that my life is over now that whoever this is has told my roommates," Cody said with a sad laugh.

"That's not so bad," Molly piped in. "They already know, right?"

"Yeah," Cody sighed. "But it says that the next letter's going to Granger-Weasley."

"Oh," Molly gasped. "That's bad. Auntie Hermione is a little nutty about things like that. She'll want to offer you your rights that have been denied to you by the Ministry while fighting the urge to lock you away someplace where she can study you."

"Minthe, do you have any idea who sent this letter to us?" Wolf asked.

"The thing is," Feral mused as Minthe took Wolf's letter into her mouth. "The letters came way too quickly for whoever this is to have sent them during breakfast. They must have been waiting in the Entrance Hall."

"Or in the Common Room," Cody added.

"True," Feral ran a hand through her hair. "The timing would work a lot better if the culprit left for the Owlery while we were still in the Common room. But we did spend a lot of time in the Entrance Hall while Molly was changing her shirt."

"There were only a few Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws still around," Buddy said. "There're these two hot twins, one in each of those houses, that I was looking for." He licked his lips and almost bit his tongue when Jeremy elbowed him.

"I thought you liked that seventh year Ravenclaw girl?" Molly asked. "You said you did last week."

Buddy grumbled under his breath and blushed. "I like lots of girls," he said by way of explanation. "Are there any boys you fancy?" Buddy asked, trying to change the subject.

"I can't fancy any boys," Molly sighed. "It's alright for me to sit with you lot because you're all so much older than me that you wouldn't see me as anything but a kid. Yet the second I talk to a boy my own age I'm suddenly surrounded by cousins."

Feral snorted. "You should have seen Wolf when we were in school back home. He'd glare at any guy brave enough to talk to me. Can you imagine what it's like to have a werewolf glaring at you?" Feral laughed. "Those boys ran quickly."

"You're mine," Wolf snarled. "No one else is allowed to have you."

"Alright, alright!" Jeremy pushed a hand in between Wolf and Feral. "You're soul mates, we've got it. But, I think that apple did something weird to your dog."

Everyone looked at Minthe who was vibrating in place with the letter still in her mouth.

"Minthe, are you okay?" Wolf asked as he reached out to touch her head. "Please don't hurt yourself. We can solve this another way."

She continued to vibrate and soon the table was vibrating along with her. Plates and silverware lifted into the air and began to swirl around her. Molly had to dodge as her eating knife flashed too near her nose.

They had attracted the attention of the whole school by now. Everyone was looking at the quivering puppy and the flying dinnerware. The table gave a loud groan and began to lift itself off the ground as well.

"Minthe! Minthe, stop it's okay!" Wolf tried shouting. She obviously didn't hear him as the shaking spread to the nearest house table.

"If she explodes, I'm really sorry," Buddy said as he joined everyone who was nervously backing away from the cub.

Then there was a loud POP and the uncomfortable feeling of eardrums re-acclimating to the altitude and Minthe froze in place.

The table dropped down first, followed by the plates and the silverware, until everything was returned to its original position.

Minthe blinked, barked, and took off down the table, dodging around the breakfasts and the people cautiously returning to their seats. She skidded to a stop in front of the person Wolf disliked the most in this school after Granger-Weasley.

"I found him!" Minthe crowed as she switched into a young, green-skinned girl. "This is the guy who's been blackmailing you! And boy does he smell bad. He's not a real werewolf, but he thinks he is." She giggled and continued pointing directly at Theodore Nott.

Nott snarled and reached out a grabbed Minthe by the neck.

"I'll kill you," he snarled and Minthe shrieked as he hoisted her into the air.

III

Past:

"Tristan!" Draco called. The boy ignored his father and ran across the yard after the rabbit. "Tristan, you listen to me!"

The three year old giggled and pounced; only to have the rabbit slip out of his grip and bound into the woods before the toddler found his feet again.

A shadow obscured the light above the blond, red, and pink haired boy before Anne appeared and tackled him to the ground.

Draco looked up at the roof she had just jumped off of and sighed. This was the price they willingly paid for having supernatural children. His son liked to chase small animals, his best friend's daughter liked to jump off impossibly high surfaces to tackle his son to the ground before going for the blood vessel in his neck, and Draco was getting a migraine from having to watch them all afternoon. He couldn't wait for those two more years when they would be some teacher's problem rather than his.

"Tris! Annie!"

Draco turned towards the familiar voice with a sigh of relief. Ginny and Jessie were home from their daylong shopping trip at the nearby indoor mall. Ginny walked outside to join them while Jessie stayed out of the sun.

It was certainly handy that Ginny could apparate the vampire from their sun-protected house right to the sun-protected mall without having to go outside once; it was so handy that Draco found himself babysitting much more often than he really would like.

The two toddlers abandoned their game and rushed towards their mothers, completely ignoring the fact that Draco had been trying to get them to come inside for an hour.

"Mummy!" Tristan called with a wolfish smile. "I did it! I didn't change into a wolf once today!"

"He did do it, Aunt Ginny," Anne interrupted. "I saw him!"

"I didn't!"

"Did!"

"Didn't!"

"Did!"

Draco tuned out the argument and bent down to kiss his wife hello before leaving her to deal with their child.

"Tris," Ginny bent down to look her son in his grey eyes. "Don't lie to me. You know lying is the worst way of speaking."

Tris looked defiantly up at his mother. "I didn't change all the way," he amended with a cute pout. "I just wanted to eat that bunny and I needed claws."

"And a tail!" Annie added. "A tail, a tail!"

"Did I do bad, Mummy?" Tris asked with tears brimming in his eyes. "I tried, but the bunny looked so yummy."

Ginny looked down at her son and sighed. "You are trying, that's what's important." Then she looked at Annie with a stern look. "But you didn't try at all, did you?"

"I-" Annie began in an attempt to look innocent. She failed miserably and Ginny's look of displeasure grew.

Tris giggled. "She bit me twice and almost got Daddy. But Daddy's smart-smart and got away."

Jessie snarled under her breath and shook her head at her child. "Anne, you need to master your cravings or the Vampire Coven won't let me keep you."

Ginny winced. She had heard the compromise Lynx had made with his new followers when he had first taken control. Many of his vampires were not happy about Jessie carrying a vampire child and were in accord with their old leader that the child needed to die. Lynx had asked for a chance for the child to prove itself capable of controlling the vampire urges it would be born with and, if his child couldn't control itself, Lynx had promised to hand it over to the vampires for extermination.

Right now those vampires were waiting for any sign that Anne was uncontrollable so they could both put her down and remove Lynx from power at the same time. It was a horrible situation to be in and Anne wasn't helping at all.

Anne just sniffed and moved past Ginny into the house.

"Besides," Jessie continued. "You know you shouldn't be out in the sun for that long."

"When's dinner?" Annie asked as she pushed past her mother, completely ignoring the concerned and outraged look Jessie shot at her daughter's back.

"I'm hungry!" Tris howled.

Jessie scowled and Ginny sighed. They would bring up the subject with both of their wayward kids again, but for now it was time for dinner.

III

"Why do you call him Tris?" Draco asked as he leaned his chin on his wife's shoulder. "His name's Tristan."

Ginny shushed her husband as their sleeping baby rolled over at the sound of his name and let out a little sigh. Luckily he didn't wake up; after the disastrous bath-time, story-time, and bedtime they had just struggled through, trying to get him to stop howling at the almost full moon and to go to sleep, the last thing they wanted was for him to wake up again.

"Tris is a cute nickname," Ginny said as she led Draco out of the room towards their own bedroom. "Everyone deserves a cute nickname."

"Ginny is a cute nickname," Draco said automatically.

"And you know what I call you," Ginny said with a suggestive wink.

Draco pinked and struggled to find another subject that didn't remind him that despite enjoying calling him by that name, Ginny barely let them be intimate enough for it to stick. Being frightened of losing a child because of being a werewolf was more than enough to keep Ginny clothed in bed. Draco was starting to hate that.

"I guess we can call him Tris," Draco grumbled. "But only as long as he knows that Tristan is his real name."

Ginny smiled at Draco and went to get ready for bed. Draco sighed and joined her, wishing that she would let him love her physically again. He wanted her.

"Full moon's coming soon," Ginny commented as she dug her nightshirt out of the drawer.

Draco groaned, all of his thoughts spinning from his wife to his son. "Don't remind me," Draco mumbled. "If Tris gets caught upside-down in another tree, or falls into the river again, or something else stupid and unwolf-like, I'll probably get voted out of my Alpha position just by their laughter."

Ginny laughed and walked over to Draco to gently pat him on the head. "Tris is three. You can't expect him to behave like a mature wolf."

"He's a pushover," Draco groaned. "He prefers to chase after bunnies and run off from the pack to dig a hole under a tree more than the hunt or the kill. Werewolf instincts should have him at the front of the pack, leading the hunt, especially with two Alpha strength werewolves as his parents. Instead he's off after grasshoppers and rolling in mud like a common puppy."

"Give Tris time," Ginny sighed. "He's just a child. Besides, my brothers ate their fair share of grasshoppers and rolled in all sorts of filth when they were kids. It's normal."

"It's normal to have a werewolf roll over and bare his neck for a vampire to suck on?" Draco said incredulously. "Because every time Anne came over to Tris today and asked for blood, he gave it to her, no questions asked."

"That's different," Ginny brushed away. She still hadn't told Draco that she thought Tris and Annie were life mates and figured that now wasn't the time to tell him.

Draco was about to argue when a loud pounding on the front door began echoing through the house. Both turned their heads quizzically towards the widows that overlooked the front lawn.

Draco spotted Jessie first. She was standing out by the car in the driveway, arms around herself and tears streaming down her face. Lynx was the one furiously knocking.

Ginny quickly pulled her shirt back on and joined Draco in rushing down the stairs to get to the door.

"Lynx, is everything okay?" Ginny said as she saw his pale face and shaking body.

"They took Anne," Lynx moaned. "Said that she was uncontrollable and were putting her on trial tonight."

"No!" Ginny gasped. "Is there anything we can do?"

"Jessie and I are hoping that your support at our backs will make the vampires back off."

"It won't work," Draco groaned. "If they let Anne go, you'll take your right as leader and kill them all for disobeying you. If Anne dies they know you'll leave and they get power."

"We still have to try," Ginny hissed. "They can't hurt her!"

Draco nodded and led Lynx out to the car. Ginny followed and was quickly at Jessie's side, holding the crying woman as she helped her get inside the car.

Neither werewolf parent remembered their son who was supposed to be happily asleep. They didn't even remember to close the door behind them as they rushed out to the car.

Emotions, particularly fear, were high and the werewolves were doing everything they could to quell it so they didn't lose control of their wolves at such a crucial time. Their son, while important, was still secondary to control their own wolves and the only way to gain back that control was to free Anne.

Tris looked out the open door as his parents got into the car with Annie's parents. He had heard the knocking and that Annie was in trouble.

His Annie was in trouble.

Tris changed into wolf form and bounded after the car. Annie wasn't allowed to be in trouble, not without him at least. Besides, this adventure sounded like fun.


	13. Chapter 13

Wolf Lord

Chapter Thirteen

By Mell8

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Even a man who is pure in heart

and says his prayers by night

may become a wolf when the Wolfsbane blooms

and the autumn moon is bright.

--The Wolf Man (1941 film)

----------------------

Present:

"What is going on here?"

This time the roared voice wasn't Granger-Weasley. Zabini had finally come to discipline his house.

"Nott, put her down at once!" Zabini snarled, wand raised to enforce his order. Nott ignored him in favor of continuing to strangle Minthe so Zabini flicked his wand. Minthe dropped to the ground with a squeak and was quick to dash off to Wolf.

Wolf cradled her in his arms as she sobbed into his shirt.

"Evil, mean little werewolf," she snarled at Nott from the safety Wolf provided at the other end of the table. "You're meaner than the fat, ugly lady who took me out of the forest!"

Minthe wasn't the only one chattering at the top of their lungs. The only people who were quiet were Wolf and his friends. Nott was a bully and a creep, but he certainly hadn't set off any of Wolf's radars. If he was a werewolf, he was a new one and had someone old protecting him from Wolf's senses; someone who knew what Wolf was and knew what to hide from him.

That left very few options and Wolf really needed to talk to his father right now.

"Quiet!" Zabini snarled. Silence descended on the Great Hall just as the bell signaling the start of the first class rang.

"Everybody not involved with this go to class!" Granger-Weasley called, finally getting her two knuts into the conversation. She forcibly ushered the rest of the students out and as she passed by Wolf she had to say something rude. "I should have figured you would be in the thick of this," she hissed before moving off to send some lingering Slytherins off to class.

"Sit," Zabini snapped to the group still there. They sat.

"I have no idea what's going on, sir!" Nott said immediately.

Jeremy snorted and said something disparaging to Buddy who laughed. Zabini gave them a look and they shut up.

Zabini ignored Nott and turned to look at Minthe. "Hello little Wood Nymph," he said with a smile. "What are you doing here?"

Minthe gasped and dove under Wolf's arm.

"Granger-Weasley stole her off the forest floor and brought her to the castle in order to try to get me to spill all my secrets in the detention she gave me the other day," Wolf explained for Minthe. "Nymphs can't go back to the forest until they've helped someone with a quest they're on. She agreed to help me in return for my saving her."

"Yes, but that doesn't explain why she's accusing Mr. Nott of blackmail and of being a werewolf. Both accusations are terribly grave, you understand."

"I do," Wolf said. Apparently he had been elected spokesperson for their side. "For the past couple days we've been getting blackmail letters accusing us of lycanthropy. Minthe's quest was to find out who the blackmailer was."

"And you believe she succeeded?" Zabini asked.

"We have no proof other than her word, but it wouldn't be a stretch for me to say yes." Minthe climbed out of Wolf's arms as a wolf cub again.

"Where is your proof that you were being blackmailed?" Zabini continued. Minthe trotted up to him. The letters they had gotten just that morning were clutched in her mouth. She dropped them in front of Zabini and gave a tail wag before returning to Wolf.

Zabini took his time reading the letters. His brow was creased by the end of the last letter.

"Cody was the one being blackmailed, not you, Wolf," he sighed.

"I'm sorry I wasn't more specific," Wolf said with a smirk.

"Um, excuse me?" Wolf looked up to see Mike and Josh nervously hovering just beyond their circle of conversation.

"Can I help you?" Zabini asked with a touch of impatience in his voice.

"Yeah," Mike sighed. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a couple crumpled letters. "We've got blackmail letters too."

"More?" Zabini groaned.

"They're probably from the same person," Mike said as he handed the letters to Zabini before joining Wolf on his side of the table.

"I see," Zabini said and he had a calculating look in his eyes that let Wolf know that he really did see. "So, Cody, you're a werewolf?"

"I was bitten this summer, and before you ask, I have it under control."

"When were you two bitten?" Zabini asked Mike and Josh. He thumbed open the top letter where the same neat scrawl as the letters Minthe had given him laid for his eyes to see.

"Beginning of the summer for me," Mike said. "And the end of the summer for Josh."

"So the blackmailer obviously knew that you were all bitten recently," Zabini mused. "Well, this could be a hoax set up by Wolf and his friends to discredit Mr. Nott," Zabini said and Nott smirked as if he had won. "But I recognize this handwriting, Mr. Nott, which brings up the question of how you knew they were werewolves."

Nott blanched and began to fidget in his seat.

"If the Wood Nymph is telling the truth-"

"We can't lie!" Minthe added in.

Zabini nodded to her before continuing. "Then it is to be assumed that you are a werewolf who had something to do with these three being bitten."

Nott gulped. Zabini didn't miss his reaction and neither did Wolf.

"If that assumption is correct, then I'm afraid I'll have to call the Aurors on you, Mr. Nott. The Wizarding society cannot have a rogue werewolf running around infecting people… but this could all be disproved if you'll submit to a simple test," Zabini finished as he conjured up a silver ring.

Nott was up out of his chair before the ring fully materialized. He flung the Great Hall doors open before anyone of them could move, although Wolf and Feral weren't trying very hard, and he didn't stop running until he was out the front doors and across the lawn. Nott vanished into the Forbidden Forest and Wolf let him go. If Nott could get past the centaurs and other creatures in the Forest then he deserved to live.

"Touch the ring," Zabini said to Cody, Mike, and Josh. All three grimaced but proved their werewolf status by the burnt circle healing on their palms.

"Go," Zabini said to them with a grin. "I'll keep this secret about you lot, but I'm going to yell Nott's story to every paper in that will listen."

Wolf snickered and shared a smirk with Feral as he helped her to her feet. Feral took Minthe from Wolf and led Molly out of the Great Hall. Cody, Buddy, Jeremy, Mike, and Josh followed the girls out. Wolf would have followed but Zabini called him back.

"Malfoy," Zabini said sharply. "I need to ask you something."

Wolf froze in place for a second, a grimace of shock on his face, before turning to look at Zabini.

"I figured it out," Zabini said with a shrug. "It wasn't hard. No one except Draco smirks like that and, if the rumors are true, you're also the Weasley girl's son."

"You're smarter than Granger-Weasley," Wolf said with a sigh. He should have been a bit more careful around the man who was closest to his father when Draco had been growing up, but he had always felt that he could trust Zabini. Hadn't Zabini proven that trust just now? "She's still convinced that I am Draco Malfoy, rather than his son."

"Yeah, well. Slytherin intelligence versus Gryffindor. Leave her to her illusions for a while longer," Zabini shared a laugh with Wolf. "Touch the ring, Wolf," Zabini said softly once their laughter had faded. "I need to know who to go to if something should happen. You're clearly the leader."

Wolf reached out and picked up the silver ring. He showed Zabini the blisters as they formed around the circle he held in his fingers.

"I am a werewolf," Wolf acknowledged the obvious.

"Who else?" Zabini asked.

"Molly. Feral's a vampire," Wolf replied, resigned to letting the Professor know everything.

"Buddy and Jeremy are human?" At Wolf's nod Zabini sighed. "I'm guessing Draco or Ginny is a werewolf and they sent you to school to learn something about the life they grew up in?"

"Sort of," Wolf answered. "Both my parents are werewolves. I'm the first born werewolf ever. However, I sent myself. Someone, probably someone like Nott, has been specifically infecting school age children and sending them to school untrained so that they would have to bite other people. Kids brains are still malleable," Wolf continued. "It would be more than easy to convince them to do the horrible work of whoever created them, especially if they were promised training or at the very least Wolfsbane for their cooperation."

"That's-"

"Horrible, yeah I know. It's why I'm here. Molly is the only one who's been bitten, I couldn't stop Mike and Josh in time to save her, but I found the rest of them and now no one else will get hurt this year."

"I hope you're right," Zabini sighed. "Get to class, Wolf."

The rest of the day passed relatively quickly. Everyone knew something had happened to Nott and the theories made Wolf laugh. What didn't make Wolf laugh was when people figured out that he knew what had happened to Nott.

Suddenly everyone wanted to be his friend, just so they could get that little bit of information. Girls even threw themselves at him hoping that in a moment of weakness, he assumed after the sex they were offering, he would tell them everything. This stopped when Feral broke the last slut's arm so badly that the bone shards would have to be removed and the bone re-grown overnight.

Wolf's temper was edging on painfully short by the end of the day. It was only Feral's insistence that he eat something before collapsing in bed that had Wolf in the Great Hall that night.

"Attention," the old voice of their Headmistress, Professor McGonagall, called over the chatter of students waiting for their dinner to appear from the kitchens.

The hall quieted slowly as students noticed the old lady waiting for their attention. Once every head was turned towards her, McGonagall sighed and spoke.

"As many of you know, there was a bit of a scare this morning. Firstly, I would like to assure all of you that everything is completely under control and that the creature responsible for the scare has come forward."

"Sorry," Minthe called with a little wave for the students. She squeaked when suddenly everyone's eyes were on her and ducked into a bowl of fruit as a wolf.

"Yes, thank you for your apology, Minthe," the Headmistress continued.

Wolf grumbled under his breath. Zabini had to tell the old lady about Minthe too?

"However, there is a more serious issue that needs to be addressed at this time. It has come to our attention that Theodore Nott, a Slytherin Seventh Year student of our school was, in fact, a werewolf."

Gasps of alarm rang through the students and McGonagall was quick to put up her hands to ask for silence again. She, reluctantly, got it.

"Mr. Nott was a dangerous werewolf with the intent to harm other humans. But! He has been expelled from this school and your safety has been assured. Extra wards have been put in place to make sure he cannot return, so do not feel afraid at any time. If Mr. Nott has been using his powers to harm anyone present, please feel free to speak with your head of house."

McGonagall sat down and the chattering students all turned to the closest friend to discuss this interesting development. Wolf just shook his head with a sigh.

"I'm not sure that was the best way to go about telling everyone," Cody grumbled. "You're going to be hero worshiped now, Wolf, since everyone's going to start thinking you tackled a werewolf and survived."

"Yeah, well, they'll learn the truth eventually," Wolf sighed.

The Great Hall doors were flung open. They impacted with the walls behind them with a smash hard enough that dust rained down from the rafters.

"Hey lady," a voice called from the open doors.

"Your wards suck," another voice finished.

Wolf whimpered as two girls stalked into the room. One was a blonde and her smirk was all for Wolf. The other was a redhead and she flung the battered and bloody body of Theodore Nott onto the ground in front of the staff table.

III

Past:

Werewolf society was all about strength. The strongest wolf was the one with the right to rule even if they lacked all other qualifications for the position. Strength always won. It was very rare that cases like Ben, when intellect beat out power, happened in werewolf society.

Vampire society was completely different. Politics ruled the world of the vampires and it was politics that allowed for Lynx to rule while other vampires fought for his position behind his back. It was strength and power that gave Lynx and edge over the others, but even that would not be enough if his intellectual and his political sense were null.

They decided to follow those precepts while in the car. The werewolves would be powerful while the vampires would be rational and deep thinking.

Draco and Ginny followed their vampire friends into the warehouse. Both werewolves had claws on their feet and hands and their eyes were flashing with power. They looked dangerous and angry, which was the idea. Their part of the plan was to hopefully scare the vampires into handing Anne back. The backing of such fearsome werewolves should give Lynx an advantage.

Jessie was still in tears but she followed bravely behind her life-mate. Despite her tears Jessie was ready to fight and tear apart the vampires who dared harm her child.

Only Lynx looked in control. He looked powerful but stoic and every vampire they passed on their way to the room where they were keeping Anne cowered away from him. Power rolled off him in waves that had the werewolves at his back sending out their own powerful waves in an echo of his.

No one noticed the tiny wolf that slunk in behind them; he was tired and panting but still following. Tris followed his parents down the hallway but stopped at a turn when Anne's scent in the other direction his parents were walking in. Tris turned down the hallway, nose to the ground, and followed Anne's scent.

Ginny followed Draco into the Council room and stopped just to the right and slightly behind Jessie, who was standing to the right of her own husband. Draco stood next to Ginny on Lynx's left.

"Ah, Caracal. How nice of you to join us," a cold voice called.

Ginny looked up at the dais ahead of them and sighed. There were seven thrones. Six smaller ones were filled with haughty looking vampires. The seventh, which was larger and on its own raised dais behind the six thrones, belonged to Lynx and was empty. The vampire sitting on the throne just to the right of Lynx's had been chosen as speaker.

Lynx shrugged. "It's Lynx," he said as if his name was of no matter and as if the vampire addressing him shouldn't have known full well what Lynx had decided to call himself. "And you know perfectly why I'm here. I'd like to know what evidence you have to charge my child with."

"Why, an eyewitness account," the vampire said with a smirk.

"Very well," Lynx sighed. "Bring in this eyewitness of yours and we shall see if he is telling the truth."

"She," the vampire corrected.

"Then bring _her _out," Lynx said with just a touch of impatience. He wasn't showing nearly any of the anger and fear Ginny knew was flowing through his body right now. Still, that little show of emotion was enough to give the speaker the idea that he had the upper hand. His smirk grew as he waved his hand imperiously.

A door opened and a woman and two other vampires pulling a cloth covered box shape stepped into the room.

Draco immediately growled and once Ginny had taken a sniff of air and gotten a good look at the woman, her growl joined her husband's.

"You recognize me!" the werewolf woman laughed. "I'm flattered."

"Kyoko, you overstep your bounds. You are outside your territory without permission of the local alpha." Draco's hands were clenching into fists as he snarled and Ginny could see the bones beginning to shift in his knuckles as powerful paws began to replace his hands.

"But when the vampire council asked for my aid, I couldn't refuse," Kyoko giggled. "It's only polite. Besides, they've promised me your position once you're dead."

Suddenly Ginny saw the larger picture. Yes, the vampire council wanted to get rid of Lynx so they could squabble for power among themselves, but they wanted all the power. This meant they needed to get rid of the werewolf power structure and that meant finding a way to get Draco and Ginny somewhere where they were vulnerable.

By kidnapping Annie, the Council had known that Lynx would go their friends the werewolves for help. However, six vampires versus two of the most powerful vampires in the world and the two most powerful werewolves were not enough to accomplish those goals. They must have something else up their sleeves.

"So, you have a testimony to give?" Lynx asked as he ignored the wolf growls at his back. Draco and Ginny stepped forward to stand equal with their friends since this was no longer just a vampire matter.

"Just this afternoon," Kyoko said with a smile. "I was watching their little tail sniffer," she pointed to Draco and Ginny, "as he failed at life when I saw the vampire child attack my alpha!" Kyoko gasped as if this were the worst thing in the world.

"Let me assuage your fears," Draco snarled. "You are no longer recognized by the werewolf community. You are hereby thrown out of all packs and are a kill-on-sight order."

Kyoko shrugged as if this didn't matter. It probably didn't if she thought she was going to be alpha once this night was over.

"So," Lynx shrugged. "You have an untrustworthy testimony by a wolf who was so poorly regarded by her alpha that she is going to die very soon. That is hardly reason enough to try my daughter for crimes."

Lynx took two steps forward and smiled coldly. "Let me made a testimony of my own, if you would. Draco?"

Draco smirked and his pointed wolf fangs slipped through his lips. Ginny saw more than one vampire shudder at the sight. Draco pulled his shirt off, showing his strong muscles and completely unmarked flesh.

He had a giant healed bite mark on his shoulder from where he had been wolf bitten originally, but there were no sign of vampire fangs.

"Werewolves take at least a full day to heal most marks made by other supernatural creatures. Vampire fangs are usually difficult to heal and Anne has a very unique bite. She was jumping off the roof during the case the kill-on-sight mentioned and wanted to land on my shoulder. If she had been trying to bite, I would still be bleeding." Draco smirked at the vampires before putting his shirt back on.

"I heard your little brat say that the vampire kid was trying to bite you!" Kyoko snapped.

"You heard wrong," Draco growled back.

"Now, now," the vampire speaker said as if he were a father disciplining his children. "Let us speak with the child in question. Surely she will tell us the truth."

Jessie hid her blanch, but since Ginny could see it, she guessed the vampires could see it too. Ginny knew Annie just as well as Jessie did and therefore knew that Anne would eagerly gossip and brag about every attempt she took to suck someone's blood. This could be very bad.

The vampire speaker gestured towards the cloth-covered box and another vampire pulled the cloth off to reveal a cage. Inside the cage was nothing. There were two bent bars that opened a space wide enough for a child Anne's age to slip through, but Anne wasn't strong enough to bend metal like that.

"What!" the vampire speaker gasped.

"You were going to do something bad to my mommy and daddy," Anne's voice called from behind them. "So I ran away."


	14. Chapter 14

Wolf Lord

Chapter Fourteen

By Mell8

--------------------------

Brother And Sister by Lewis Carroll

"SISTER, sister, go to bed!

Go and rest your weary head."

Thus the prudent brother said.

"Do you want a battered hide,

Or scratches to your face applied?"

Thus his sister calm replied.

"Sister, do not raise my wrath.

I'd make you into mutton broth

As easily as kill a moth"

The sister raised her beaming eye

And looked on him indignantly

And sternly answered, "Only try!"

Off to the cook he quickly ran.

"Dear Cook, please lend a frying-pan

To me as quickly as you can."

"And wherefore should I lend it you?"

"The reason, Cook, is plain to view.

I wish to make an Irish stew."

"What meat is in that stew to go?"

"My sister'll be the contents!"

"Oh"

"You'll lend the pan to me, Cook?"

"No!"

Moral: Never stew your sister.

-------------------------------

Present:

Someone was retching. Wolf could smell it and hear it. He supposed he might be retching too if he had a weak stomach and if he didn't see the bloody body as food rather than as a human being. Still, the vomiting was pretty gross and he wished whoever it was would stop.

Of course the two girls standing triumphantly in the middle of the Great Hall, identical smirks on their identical faces, eclipsed that wish. Wolf would much rather think about someone throwing up than about his sisters being at Hogwarts.

Much, much rather.

He buried his head in his hands as the redhead began to speak.

"So we were traveling in the forest on our way here-"

"And we came across this awful smelling guy-" the blonde cut in.

"So we thought, let's bring him with us-"

"Cause he's obviously running from Wolf-"

"So now he can finish the job!"

They finished on a triumphant note that made Wolf whimper. Feral snickered at his side while all the rest of his friends looked at him curiously.

"Who are you?" Granger-Weasley, the first teacher to find her voice, snapped at the twins.

"We're Nightshade!" one of them chirped.

"I thought you were Moonshine," Feral called from her table. "That's what you were calling yourselves when I left home." Wolf wanted to smack a hand over Feral's mouth. If he hadn't been sure she would bite it off at the wrist he might have considered it.

"We couldn't decide who was Moon and who was Shine," the other answered with a giggle.

"But Mummy says that we have to choose which one we are-"

"So instead of fighting-"

"We chose a new name!"

"What are you doing here?" Granger-Weasley tried again to get a straight answer out of the girls. He almost smirked at that. Granger-Weasley was in way over her head if she thought to order his sisters around as if they were mere students of hers.

"We already told you!"

"We brought this guy back to Wolf-"

"So Wolf could take care of him."

"We'd prefer eating him-"

"But Wolf says we can't-"

"So we brought him here instead."

They smiled up at Granger-Weasley with innocent looks in their eyes and pretty little pouts on their lips. When they saw the woman wasn't buying it they settled for their usual mischievous looks with a touch of insanity in their eyes.

Granger-Weasley had to blink and come back from a long way before she could reply to the twin's answer.

"Wolf, do you know these girls?" Granger-Weasley asked with a glare at him, as if it was his fault. He got that look a lot when it came to the twins so just sighed and stood up. He walked around the tables and up to his sisters and cuffed them both on the backs of their heads.

"Do you know how worried Mum has been?" he snapped in accompaniment to their squawks of pain. "Her last letter was almost frantic," Wolf lied, hoping this would make them go home. "When Dad goes hunting to find you two, he's supposed to find you, not come home empty handed!"

"But Wolf," the redhead whined.

"We wanted to help you," the blonde finished.

"I don't care!" Wolf snapped. "Go home!"

"What is going on here?" Granger-Weasley roared.

"Well," Feral said as she joined them. "This is Night and this is Shade," she pointed to the girls. The redhead nodded at the word Night and the blonde waved at Shade. "They're Wolf's sisters and his mother is very unhappy that they've run off."

"Don't make us go home, Wolf," Night whimpered.

"We traveled all this way!" Shade added when Wolf's scowl didn't diminish any.

"Why is Wolf the one who can order you home?" Granger-Weasley asked coldly. "I should think it would be the adults at this school who are going to arrest you for trespassing that you should be worried about."

Night snorted. "You're just some old lady with a wand. Wolf beats us when we don't listen."

"He beats you?" Granger-Weasley asked, appalled and choosing to ignore the old lady comment.

"Yeah," Shade whimpered as fat tears gathered in her eyes. "Every single time!"

"And we get to plot out the race course too," Night grumbled.

"And then we have to pay him double the betting money-"

"Cause getting caught cheating in the race means you have to pay twice-"

"And he _always_ catches us," Shade finished in the same sad tone.

Wolf groaned. This is why he didn't miss his sisters. Feral was choking on her laughter next to him and he resisted the urge to elbow her. The last time he did that he hadn't been able to walk right for days. She kicked back hard.

Granger-Weasley finally seemed to get that the girls were jerking her around. Wolf couldn't stop a little feeling of satisfaction from making his horrible day a little better at the sight of her face going red.

"That's enough," McGonagall stood up and looked at the little group. Her voice carried through the room and was strong enough to get the twins and Granger-Weasley to back off for a moment. "Finish dinner," she said to the entire student body that had been listening in on their conversation. "I want you four in my office before the first class starts, first thing in the morning," she added in a slightly quieter voice.

Wolf nodded, grabbed his sisters by the backs of their necks, and dragged them over to the Slytherin table. McGonagall and a couple other teachers rushed down to where Nott lay on the floor, bleeding and unconscious. They put Stunning spells on him to make sure he wouldn't escape and used their magic to lift him in the air and cart him off to the Hospital Wing.

III

"No one knows what we are," Wolf hissed as he led the way to the Headmistress' office. "Feral and I are just two eccentric students."

"Well, that's all ruined now," Feral sighed. "You two running through the forest and then talking about cannibalism was a great way to ruin everything."

"Eh- who cares?" Night said with a dismissive wave of her hands.

"I care!" Wolf snapped. "I'm trying to accomplish something important for all wolf kind and you're making it impossible for me to work anonymously."

"Don't worry," Shade snapped. "We'll be out of your hair eventually. Dad's probably on his way right now!"

"That's a problem!" Wolf groaned, wondering how his sisters had survived this long if they were this stupid. "Dad's got a warrant for his arrest, remember?" he added with a snarl. "He shows up here and we lose him."

"Until he breaks out," Shade butt in again.

"And your mum," Feral said. "She'll show up and never be allowed to leave when her family sees her again."

"There were a lot of red heads in there," Night said with a fluff of her equally red hair.

"Are we cousins?" Molly's voice asked as she dodged out of a darkened alcove in front of them. "Does this mean I'm not the only female Weasley any more?"

"A girl,"

"With red hair?"

"A female Weasley cousin!"

The twins crowed happily and dove forward to say hello to Molly. In seconds they had their arms wrapped around Molly's shoulders and all three had their heads bent together as they plotted evil deeds.

Feral snickered.

Wolf snapped out the password to the gargoyle, which jumped aside, instead of whimpering hopelessly at his sisters. They all tramped up the stairs, Nightshade dragging Molly along with them, and Wolf knocked on the door.

"Enter," McGonagall's voice called.

Wolf pushed open the door and held it as Feral, Nightshade, and Molly went through. He thought about making a run for it; he could probably reach the forest before anyone caught him. But the dismemberment he'd get from Feral and the giggling from Nightshade because he'd been caught by Feral, were enough to force him to walk through the door into the office.

"I believe I said, four," McGonagall said sharply as she looked at Molly.

"We're changing our name," Night said with a smile. "I'm Butter."

"I'm Nut," Shade giggled.

"And this is Squash!" the twins said with a flourish of their hands towards Molly.

All three girls looked at each other before grimacing. "Eww."

"Never mind," Shade grumbled.

"We'll stick with Nightshade for now." Night finished.

"Miss Weasley," Granger-Weasley snapped from her position behind McGonagall. "I don't know how they forced you to come here, but you may return to class now."

"Yes Professor Granger-Weasley," Molly said with a sigh as she turned and left the office.

"Granger," Night said thoughtfully as she tapped her lip with one finger.

"I know that name," Shade added as a cruel grin bloomed on her face.

"Granger!" both of the twins squealed at once.

"Night, Shade, or whatever your names are!" Granger-Weasley snapped. "Sit down and be quiet!"

"You may call us Bookworm," Night said pointedly at Granger-Weasley.

"Or Buckteeth…tooth…nah, teeth," Shade said as she led the way to the hard backed chairs in front of McGonagall's desk.

Granger-Weasley went red, then white, before looking suspiciously at the twins.

Wolf pulled his head from his hands when he noticed Granger-Weasley's look turn to him and Feral. He sighed and walked over to his sisters.

"That's enough," Wolf said sharply. Then, under his breath he added, "Ivy, Iris, please don't make trouble for me."

"Not a chance, Tristan," Iris, the red head, snapped back under her breath.

Wolf pulled away and held out a seat for Feral to sit, before taking his own and turning his attention to their Headmistress.

"I understand you knew they were missing," McGonagall began. "But you should have told the school that they were coming here."

"I didn't know where they were," Wolf disagreed. "All I knew was that they were missing and that Dad couldn't find them. The fact that they showed up here is a major inconvenience to me as well as you."

"I allowed you to enter the school with the prevision that you did not cause trouble," McGonagall said sharply. "I allowed you to come to this school despite not knowing who you are or who your parents are. In return for that hospitality, Feral has shown up and disrupted our school. I allowed that to slide because she had sent an advance letter asking for permission to enter the school. However, Night and Shade have done no such thing."

Wolf just looked at McGonagall, wondering where she was going with this.

"Your grades are excellent, both of your grades are excellent," the Headmistress said to Wolf and Feral. "You are both clearly intelligent and clearly qualified to attend Hogwarts. But I can't have these disruptions every day in every class and at every meal. I don't want to have to do this, but right now it seems that the only way to keep this school calm and running smoothly, is to ask you both to return home to the excellent teachers who have taught you magic thus far."

"You're expelling us?" Wolf asked, suddenly worried. Being expelled meant he couldn't stay at the school, which meant four werewolves who would be outside of his jurisdiction for the full moon coming next week. He would also have lost the in into the Wizarding World he was hoping for by attending this school.

"I won't write it down as expelled," McGonagall shook her head with a sigh. "I'll write down that you decided to return home for personal reasons. It won't be a mark against you, but you won't be allowed to return to Hogwarts."

Wolf didn't know what to say to that, but someone pounded on the door before he could make a response.

"You can't expel them!" Professor Zabini said as he gasped for breath. He dropped a heavy book on protocol into Wolf's lap. Wolf opened it to where the bookmark was and began to read.

"And why not?" McGonagall asked.

"They've got diplomatic immunity!"

III

Past:

Everyone spun around to look at the little girl in her pink princess pajamas that featured a Barbie with vampire fangs. Anne looked completely unharmed and unruffled. She walked into the middle of the room and glared up at the vampires on the dais.

"I didn't do anything bad and you're a mean old man who's going to die," Anne snapped.

"No!" the vampire speaker snapped. "No, you are mine, child. Mine to kill or torment." As he said the last he looked right at Lynx, waiting for his reaction.

The vampire speaker got a reaction, but it wasn't from Lynx.

"No," a child's voice answered coldly. "Annie is mine."

Tris stepped into view from where Anne had been hiding just moments before. He was naked and his palms were red from where he had forced the iron bars open.

He walked out to stand protectively in from of Anne and growled at the mean vampire.

"Mine," Tris repeated.

Ginny was shocked. Her bunny-chasing son had never shown such conviction or…power before. He looked and sounded like a true werewolf alpha.

"Never," the vampire hissed back. He stood from his throne and took a step forward that turned into a dive for Anne. Before Ginny had a chance to rush forward and protect her son, Tris was standing next to her, Anne's hand clasped in his, and the vampire was left standing in the empty space.

"I'm not big enough yet," Tris snarled. "But my daddy is more that big enough to kill you."

The vampire snarled and waved his hand.

Suddenly the room was filled with over five hundred vampires. All of the vampires were watching the proceedings carefully.

"You see?" the vampire speaker asked widely. "They threaten violence. The child is completely uncontrollable. They must die!"

"I don't see this," another vampire said as he stepped out of the crowd. Ginny recognized this vampire as one of the few who had come to see Anne with well wishes instead of hate or fear. "I see two mothers, two fathers, and two children trying to live while you contrive new ways to kill them. They would not be here tonight if you had not kidnapped their daughter. They would not threaten you if you had not threatened their lives first. I say, they live and you die."

"I second that," another vampire called from the back of the crowd. "You use fear to control us, Blaine. Lynx is our only hope for a real chance in this world."

"Lynx will kill you all!" the vampire speaker, Blaine, yelled, blood spittle flying from his mouth. "He will expose us to the humans with an unruly child like that! He will hand over our power to the werewolves!"

Anne stepped forwards, Tris' hand in hers, and glared right up at Blaine.

"You don't even know my name," Anne said with a pout. "How do you know I'm bad if you don't know my name?"

Her words might have sounded childish, but the power in them was not. Her glare sent Blaine stumbling back a few steps before he was able to right himself.

"The child speaks true," the first vampire to defend them said. "I say, let our leader and his family and friends go. It's past the kids' bedtimes."

The rumble of agreement that went through the room sealed it. Ginny reached for Draco's hand and turned to go. Jessie did the same with Lynx and both mothers watched their children as the toddlers walked ahead of them.

Lynx sent a significant look at the vampire helping them as they walked out the doors. The vampire nodded and turned back to the crowd.

"I call for a vote to remove the old council from power. Lynx is a new ruler, we should have a new council as well!"

The doors closed behind them so Ginny couldn't hear what was said after, but the satisfied look on Lynx's face said it all.

Instead, Ginny turned to her son. "What are you doing here?" she snapped at him. "You're supposed to be safely in bed and asleep."

"But mummy," Tris whined. "Annie needed me! I did good, right?"

Ginny sighed. "Yes, you did good. I just wish you could have been safe while doing good."

"No one could hurt me when you're around, mummy," Tris said with a big smile. Ginny's heart melted as she let Draco take their son for a hug.

"Now do you understand why you have to be careful who you bite and where you show your powers?" Jessie was asking Anne.

"Yes, mommy," Anne said with a perfect look of apology on her face. Then she turned to look at Tris and smirked. Ginny just sighed. Anne would understand one day.

They reached the car and had the doors open when Ginny heard the barest scuff of a shoe on tar. She turned just in time to see a clawed fist flying towards her face.

Ginny ducked out of instinct and the fist missed her. Instead of immediately fighting back, Ginny moved away from the car and got space to plant her feet.

Kyoko didn't wait for Ginny to get set, but Ginny was trained for this so was ready anyway. She blocked the next fist and missed Kyoko with one of her own.

"You're going to die whether I have to do it or a vampire does!" Kyoko hissed.

Ginny was about to fight back in earnest when the small figure that was her son stepped between the two women.

"Stop!" Tris said quickly and calmly. Ginny felt her limbs freeze in place when the power in Tris' voice washed over her. Kyoko looked to be frozen as well, so Ginny didn't bother fighting this strange compulsion.

"You are a mean and ugly lady," Tris said coldly to Kyoko. "Kill-on-sight, you go away and don't come back." Tris turned away from Kyoko and took his mother's hand and led Ginny back to the car.

"How did you do that, Tristan?" Draco asked as Kyoko unfroze and fled.

"I control all wolfs," Tris shrugged. "I said, wolf go bye bye and she went away."

Tris didn't seem to understand that this was a shocking statement as he ignored the incredulous looks of the adults and carefully climbed into the car next to Anne.

"Hey, daddy," Tris called from the car.

"Yes, Tristan?" Draco asked as he and Ginny squeezed into the back seat next to the kids.

"What's a kill on sight?"

Draco laughed. Tris had used the title correctly to scare off Kyoko and he hadn't even known what it meant. Maybe his son was smarter than Draco had originally thought.

"It means, I can't kill you now, but I will kill you later. And I give permission to everyone else to kill you too," Draco explained to his son. "I would never say something like that lightly and I'm going to have to explain my actions at the next Conclave, but I think that awful woman deserved it."

"She won't come back," Tris said as a yawn took over his face. He blinked sleepily up at his father before climbing into Draco's lap and curling up to sleep in a ball. The little wolf cub kept one paw off his father's lap so the sleeping Anne could carefully hold it.

They went back to the Malfoy's house and both the kids were put to bed in Tris' "I'm a big boy" bed. Tris turned back into a human and was curled around Anne when Draco left to make sure there were sheets on the guest bed for Lynx and Jessie.

Ginny smiled one last time at her son and his life-mate before heading off to bed herself.

The next night was the full moon. Lynx and Jessie had to go see what their actions the previous night had done to the vampire council, which left Annie with Tristan that night. This wasn't the first time the vampire child had run with the werewolves, but that didn't mean it wasn't nerve wracking for Ginny and Draco.

A vampire wasn't subject to the control of the moon, and was therefore not under the control of the alpha. If Anne went off somewhere, no one would be able to find her or stop her.

"Ready, Annie?" Tris asked as they reached the clearing where the moon called them every month.

"Yup!" Anne replied excitedly.

Before all of the wolves had even gotten to the circle, Tris changed and was off, Anne tight on his heels.

There was nothing Draco or Ginny could do on a full moon night. They were forced to wait for the moon to call their wolves from their bodies. They couldn't go after the kids until later. Hopefully they would be all right in the interim. They usually were, and they had proved themselves to be resilient, if nothing else, so the parents didn't bother worrying too much.

As their changes came, some wolves stayed in the circle to be part of the pack for the hunt. Some wolves preferred to go off on their own and Draco let them leave before he was changed.

When Ginny changed she nosed her husband before trotting off into the woods to find her errant son.

She found Tris at the edge of a cliff overlooking the river and sighed. Tris had jumped off that cliff many times for a swim in the river. Ginny didn't want to get wet or to have a wet son all night, so she trotted forward to stop him.

A loud growling brought her to a stop. Was someone challenging her? She was the alpha's mate and an alpha strength wolf too. Who would dare challenge her?

Then she saw Tristan spin around and let out his own growl.

Someone was challenging her son!

Two full-grown wolves stepped into view, advancing on where Tris and Anne were waiting. Ginny recognized them as slight dissenters in the pack who Draco was always dealing with.

Tris looked contemptuously at the two wolves before ignoring them and turning back to Anne.

This incensed the wolves and they jumped forward, clearly with the intent to shove Tris over the cliff. Ginny started forward as well, knowing that she wouldn't make it in time to stop her son from getting wet. She would stop the wolves from escaping their punishment!

Tris glanced over his shoulder again and let out a wolf sigh. He barked like a dog at the two wolves, a short high-pitched sound like puppy, and the wolves froze in place.

Tris barked again and the two wolves spun around and ran away as if lighting was biting at their heels.

Ginny stepped into view just in time to see Tris wink at her before he jumped off the cliff into the water below.

Draco sighed from beside her and nudged her towards the waiting pack. She would lead the hunt tonight, since Draco had done it last time. Draco would get to go over the cliff and catch their son and then watch him for the rest of the night.

Annie looked over the cliff Tris had just jumped off of, shrugged, and dived off after her mate. Draco trotted downriver to catch up to the furiously paddling supernatural toddlers and to keep them from drowning.

Ginny let out a howl that was echoed by the pack at her back. They took off in search of a pack of deer.

Tris' warbling howl sounded from the river and Draco's exasperated howl followed as Tris' was stopped by river water going in his nose.

Overall, the night was a big success. Enough deer had been taken down that there were still juicy bits left over when Draco finally convinced the kids to return to the clearing for dinner.

Tris dived right into the best bits let over while Anne found somewhere to lie down. By her satisfied grin, Ginny could tell that the vampire had already fed quite well on Tris tonight.

Ginny curled up under her favorite tree just outside of the clearing. Draco joined her once his stomach was full and they curled up together to watch the pack and their child go to sleep. Once everyone was out for the night, they would go on a run together, something they did every full moon.

The next morning Ginny woke up naked and worried. Their run had been excellent, but the unprotected sex was another matter entirely. Her blood had been racing, Draco was next to her, and it was a full moon. She really couldn't be blamed.

Still, Ginny knew that she was pregnant again and decided she was going to neuter Draco as soon as they got back to the house.

-------------

A.N.

So, I've decided my summary sucks for this story. If anyone has any ideas of a good summary, I'd be really interested to hear them!

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far! The next chapter is a continuation of the action from the present perspective, but we're moving into some filler bits for the past. I'm looking forward to when the plots come together and past and present blur!

Mell


	15. Chapter 15

Wolf Lord

Chapter Fifteen

By Mell8

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I've tweaked it for my purposes of this story, but here is my dictionary's definition of diplomatic immunity:

_The privilege of exemption from certain laws and taxes granted to diplomats by the country in which they are working. _

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Present:

"We do have diplomatic immunity," Wolf said incredulously as he read the passage marked out in red ink. Feral leaned over his shoulder and started to read.

"Yes, of course you do," Zabini collapsed into an empty chair and tried to catch his breath.

"Any entity representing the government of its sovereign country or species is to be given diplomatic immunity," Wolf read aloud.

"No!" Granger-Weasley snarled, clearly affronted that her worst enemy in the student body might be getting out of this scot-free. "The government or species must also be aware that you are representing them. You can't just be from another country and have diplomatic immunity. You have to be an ambassador or a part of the royal family."

"We apply," Feral snarled back.

Wolf continued reading that page and turned to the next one. He couldn't find anything restricting the species or government, aside from the fact that there had to be proof of its existence. Everyone except those in Western Europe knew about the Vampire Council and the Werewolf Alpha system. Wolf and Feral qualified under diplomatic immunity as the rulers of their own species government.

"Feral, if you and I apply," Wolf said as excitement began to grow.

"Then-"

"Yes!" Wolf said happily. Then his dad applied too. The worst they could do to Draco Malfoy now that he had diplomatic immunity was deporting him. He couldn't be thrown into Azkaban or charged with a crime.

"This is wonderful!" Feral laughed.

"Zabini, you are amazing," Wolf said as he turned to his Head of House with a smile.

"I try," Zabini said cheekily.

"Alright, I think I'm not speaking for just myself,"

"When we ask what the heck you're talking about," Nightshade grumbled.

Wolf tossed them the book and let the girls read it. They were more than intelligent enough to understand the implications on their own.

"And how," Granger-Weasley snapped as she radiated anger, "do you have diplomatic immunity?"

"That's none of your business," Feral snapped back. "We do and that's all that matters."

"Is this why you have both come to this school anonymously?" McGonagall asked.

"It's part of a reason why I had to," Wolf agreed. "But Feral probably could have used her own name since all you European Witches and Wizards are so close-minded about the rest of the world that you wouldn't have even recognized her."

"Still," McGonagall sighed. "In light of recent events, I'm going to have to ask both of you to reveal who you are and what your position is in this government you say you are a part of."

"Can we have your word of confidentiality?" Feral asked sharply.

"Of course," McGonagall replied, looking surprised that Feral even had to ask.

"Can we?" Feral asked again, but this time she was looking at Granger-Weasley.

"I'm the Deputy Headmistress!" Granger-Weasley gasped.

"You're married to an Auror!" Feral snarled back.

"How about this," Zabini said as he straightened in his seat. "I'm their Head of House, so I qualify as a witness to these events. Hermione, you step outside and they'll tell everything to McGonagall and me. Once we verify their statements, you can come back in."

"This is an affront to my position in this school!" Granger-Weasley hissed.

"I'm afraid they are correct, Hermione," McGonagall sighed.

"Fine!" Granger-Weasley said as she stomped out of the door.

Zabini sent a silencing spell at the door as it closed so she couldn't listen through the keyhole.

"Now, tell us who you are and why you think you have diplomatic immunity," McGonagall said sharply.

Wolf sighed. It seemed he had no choice. He would either be expelled and would be forced to abandon wolves under his care, or he would spill the closest of his secrets to someone who would actually be believed in polite society.

"My name is Tristan Malfoy, son of Draco Malfoy and Ginevra Weasley," Wolf said slowly and clearly. He didn't want to repeat himself. "And I am the Wolf Lord and Alpha werewolf, which means I rule over every single werewolf in the world."

"I'm Anne, no family name. I'm number two…three, I forget, on the Vampire Council."

"I thought you were number one?" Night asked with a giggle. Feral's glare shut her up quickly.

"I was," Feral sighed. "But I had to drop down to a lower position in order to come here."

"And we're…" the twins stood up and held their arms above their heads like cheerleaders.

"Ivy!"

"Iris!"

"But you can call us Ivis,"

"Like the bird!"

"Don't you mean Ibis?" Feral asked.

"Oh,"

"Maybe,"

"We have to think of another compound word for our names!" Iris gasped.

"It's an ugly bird anyway," Ivy added sadly.

McGonagall looked floored, not at the twin's act but at who their parents were and just what sort of power Wolf and Feral controlled. Clearly she thought that, if they were even telling the truth, they were just some royalty from a small, unimportant island in the middle of nowhere.

Zabini looked smug. "I figured it out on my own," he bragged.

"I can see why you don't want the Aurors knowing," McGonagall sighed. "Very well, if your story proves correct, then you do have diplomatic immunity and I can't ask you to leave this school. However, I can't have these disruptions every day in my school."

"I understand," Wolf replied with a glare towards his sisters.

"Oh," Iris grumbled. "It's our fault."

"Yes, it is," Wolf sighed. He turned back to McGonagall. "I can order them to leave, but that will cause an entirely different set of problems. I could waive diplomatic immunity and you could have them arrested for trespassing, but that would cause me problems with the Ministry that I'd rather avoid." He glared at the twins.

"You're saying they might be less of a disruption if I just allow them to remain here?" McGonagall asked.

"Think of them as Uncles Fred and George, only with werewolf powers added in," Wolf replied and laughed when McGonagall winced.

"Headmistress!" someone yelled before pounding on the door.

"She's in a meeting!" Granger-Weasley's affronted voice snapped.

"Headmistress, it's an emergency!"

The door opened and an Auror fell into the room. He picked himself up and hurriedly rushed to the desk. Granger-Weasley followed after.

"Nott is waking up, Headmistress, and he's gone berserk!"

McGonagall stood up. "I'll let you stay at Hogwarts until your story is checked out," she said quickly to Wolf as she made for the door. "Get to class, all of you!"

"A berserk werewolf?" Feral asked Wolf pointedly when Wolf didn't immediately followed the Headmistress out the door.

"Nightshade," Wolf said sharply. 'You're to quietly join Molly's class. The same rules apply here as in your previous school, understand?"

"Yes, Wolf," they chorused.

"Good," Wolf sighed, glad that Nightshade seemed to be in a listening mood. They must be feeling somewhat bad that they ruined so much for Wolf. "Feral, would you make sure-"

"Yeah," she nodded. Wolf nodded back before turning and rushing after McGonagall.

Wolf reached the hospital wing just as things were starting to get out of hand. Nott had broken through the stunning spells and was beginning to change into a wolf. Aurors and Hogwarts staff were standing back, wands at the ready, with no hope of surviving if help didn't come soon.

Wolf smiled slightly and walked into the room.

A hospital bed flew over Wolf's head as he walked and as Nott let his anger and fear take over his human side.

"Boy!" an Auror yelled at Wolf. "Get out of there!"

Wolf ignored all this and walked right up to Nott.

"Desist at once," Wolf said softly. Power swept through the room and slammed into Nott, sending the half man, half wolf creature careening into the ground.

Nott whimpered on the ground but didn't try to get back up. He glared up at Wolf with a lot of surprise in his eyes.

"Do you know what I am?" Wolf said in his soft voice that belied the power he was using to force Nott to submit.

"Al…pha," Nott forced out.

"Good," Wolf said mildly as he leaned his hip against the bed closest to Nott. "Now, who sent you here?"

"Father, my father," Nott replied, although it was clear on his face that he was trying to resist the influence Wolf's presence had on him.

"Who bit you?" Wolf continued.

"My father!" Nott snapped.

That didn't surprise Wolf. He had suspected that it might be a Death Eater who had escaped Azkaban behind this. A Death Eater who remembered Fenrir Greyback's attempts to change people in order to create an army could have come up with this.

"Who bit your father?"

Nott had to think for a moment for this answer. "A girl. Some girl, I don't know who."

"What are you doing to my brother, you stupid Mudblood?" Violet's voice shrieked from the doorway. She stepped into the room and Wolf watched as claws grew where her fingernails used to be. Apparently both the Nott children had been changed.

"Who sent you?" Wolf said as he turned his attention and his power towards Violet. She jerked to a stop and froze with one foot extended to take a step when Wolf's power hit her.

"My father," she snapped at him. Violet Nott was clearly the stronger wolf of the two siblings. Wolf exerted a little more power on her.

"Who bit your father?"

"Some woman and her kid. I don't know," she said in a dreamy voice that let Wolf know she was completely untrained for all that she could call her claws at need. She was moon struck by his power.

"Describe them," Wolf said in his gentle voice so he didn't alarm her and wake her from her dreamlike state.

"The kid and the mom looked Asian, I think," Violet replied. "I never met them. Only father has."

"Tell me of their plans."

"I was told to bite as many people as I could on the full moon, but I failed," she let out a little sniffle. "My wolf went swimming instead of biting anybody!"

"And your brother?"

"He wasn't bitten yet. Father wanted a human son to pass on the family name to, but when I failed Theodore was bitten because father had no other choice."

Wolf nodded and looked up at the Aurors. "Is there anything else you want to ask them?"

"Not at the moment," the Auror in charge said in a voice that was clearly shocked.

"Sleep," Wolf whispered to Violet and Theodore, who complied by lying down right where they were and going to sleep.

"Wolfsbane keeps their wolves asleep and helpless. Next time you go after a violent wolf and I'm not around, douse them in Wolfsbane and sleeping potion," Wolf said to the Head Auror. "That's what I suggest when you go after their father."

"How did you do that?" another Auror gasped.

"I'm the Alpha," Wolf said with a sigh. "And if you don't know what that means then your Auror program must be a joke," he added when all he got were blank looks. "Now if you'll excuse me. I have to return to class."

Wolf left the hospital wing and waited at the corner for McGonagall to catch up.

"As Wolf Lord, the Aurors should come to you about what to do with those two. They are werewolves."

"And, unpleasant as they are, they're my responsibility," Wolf added. "I know. But I can't train them to control their wolves right now. Usually there's an entire pack of controlled wolves to take care of the cubs, but it's just me and I'm already taking care of four newly bitten plus my sisters. Also, in cases where the people bitten are unresponsive to the rules, they are usually put into the exclusive care of an alpha level wolf not in control of a pack. If they can't learn then, they're killed."

"So what are you going to do with them?" she asked.

"Leave them with the Ministry until an alpha level wolf I trust becomes available," Wolf sighed. "Until then there's nothing I can do. And maybe some time behind bars will be good for them."

Wolf nodded politely to the Headmistress before heading off to class.

III

"The Alpha is here!" she giggled to the five-year-old girl on her lap. "The Wolf Lord himself! Do you know what that means, dearest?"

"Food," the girl smiled, showing her pointed teeth.

"And more power for you, my love," the woman added. "You'll be queen of the world once you've eaten his power!"

"I want to eat him, mommy. I want to!"

"Soon, pet. Soon. I'm sure he will taste…delicious."

III

Past:

"Pregnant?" Draco asked as he looked down at the little plus sign on the pee strip. It had been two weeks since the full moon, and therefore two weeks since the last time they had sex. How could one time, particularly the one time when the moon had been riding in their souls, bring so much trouble.

Maybe Draco was starting to agree with Ginny that sex led to bad things.

"Yes," Ginny snapped. "Go call the Witches Coven and see if they can help us again."

The next two weeks were almost the same as the last time Ginny was pregnant. Draco went to the Wizarding town for baby books and spell books. Ben asked everyone he knew for information on babies and stopping the transformation. And the Witches Coven came to see what they could do, which was nothing.

"We told you that the spell would only work once," the Coven Leader said sadly. "There is nothing more we can do. Our apologies to you and your husband." The Coven Leader left before Ginny could lose her temper.

The next full moon neared and Ginny dove inside to speak with her wolf.

"Cub?" the wolf asked. "Where?"

Ginny tried to show her wolf, but to the wolf's eye, there was nothing there. The wolf couldn't see cells and Ginny's child hadn't formed enough to exude any power yet.

The situation was hopeless.

"Maybe I should let myself change on the next full moon, instead of nearly killing myself holding it off all night," Ginny said sadly to Draco as she cried in his arms.

"Why?" Draco asked. "If we wait another solution might come along."

"Or, if we wait I'll feel the baby's powers screaming as it dies when I lose control of my wolf. It would be better for me and the baby if I end this as soon as possible," Ginny sobbed.

"What's so sad, Mummy?" Tristan asked as he climbed into bed with his parents. "No crying!"

"Oh, Tristan," Ginny sobbed softly. "I want to give you a little brother to play with, but changing into a wolf will take that away."

"A little brother?" Tris asked thoughtfully. "I want someone new to play with. Someone not a girl," Tris said with a nod despite the fact that he loved playing with Anne. "You bring me a little brother."

"I can't, Tris," Ginny said as another sob escaped her lips. "The change to a wolf kills it."

"So don't change," Tris said with a smile.

"I'm not like you," Ginny said with a smile for her son. "I don't have any control over when I shift on the full moon."

Tristan smiled. "You won't shift." He snuggled into his mother's arms before going to sleep. Ginny let him sleep there for the night, glad that she had been able to bring one son into the world. She wouldn't, couldn't, bring two.

They called the Coven again in desperation the night before the full moon, but only got an answering machine. Apparently the witches knew how to screen their calls. Draco offered to go over and force them to talk to him, but Ginny knew that the message wouldn't have changed and stopped him.

It was with a heavy heart that Ginny followed Draco and Tristan into the clearing for the full moon. She wanted to hide somewhere where the moon couldn't touch her in order to lessen the call to shift. She wanted to not be a werewolf so she could bring as many of Draco's kids into the world as she could.

Ginny wanted to not be pregnant so she wouldn't have to be making this difficult decision. She wanted to wait and see if there was a cure that could save her unborn son. But waiting a few months and going through excruciating pain in order to do so, only to lose both her child's life and her own life when she succumbed to the moon was even worse. At least now her child wasn't alive. It couldn't think or breathe, or even create its own werewolf power. It would be better to end this before it became more than just a couple cells.

That was why Ginny was walking out to the clearing tonight instead of hiding in her basement where the moon couldn't get her. The choice would be out of her hands. The moon would call and she would shift, and the child would be gone.

Tris was the first to change, as usual, but this time he didn't go bounding off into the woods after something only he could see. Tris seemed to understand the mood of the night, as all of the werewolves felt the sadness of losing a child.

He climbed into his mother's lap and curled up for a nap.

The night began to wear on. The hours passed until only Draco was left as a human. Ginny knew her shift would happen momentarily and looked at Draco's human eyes one last time before her husband had to bend over with his change.

Ginny didn't feel any of the precursors to the change. Her bones weren't aching. The moon wasn't singing to her. Ginny felt almost human.

Suddenly Draco's pale white wolf was standing next to her and she was in her human shape.

"Draco?" Ginny asked. Why hadn't she changed? "What's going on?"

Draco shook his head. He didn't know either.

Tristan stirred in Ginny's lap and almost fell off. Half of his body brushed the ground and suddenly Ginny could feel the moon.

Tris righted himself and the moon was gone again.

Ginny looked down at her son in awe. "He said I wouldn't change and he meant it," Ginny said to Draco. "We don't even know what powers he has."

Draco quirked an eyebrow as if saying, 'you think Tristan is doing this?'

"I do think Tris is doing this," Ginny replied. "Now go, hunt. I'll be fine."

Draco licked her face and gently touched his nose to his sleeping son's ear before spinning and calling out for the hunt to begin. Ginny watched as wolves gathered behind Draco and took off into the forest in search of something yummy.

The next full moon was the same. Tris curled up on Ginny's lap. Annie curled up so she could lay her cheek against Tristan's fur and was content to listen to Ginny telling stories the whole night.

The third full moon passed without Anne but with Tristan holding off Ginny's wolf.

Ginny had learned by now not to ask Tris what he was doing. She wasn't sure her son knew himself and Ginny didn't want him to over think the process and make a mistake.

There was a slight swell to her stomach now that both Tristan and Draco liked to rub their hands over. Tristan usually did this tiredly after the full moon when he would sleep for a day straight and wouldn't let Anne drink his blood for at least a week afterwards.

Draco loved the feel of Ginny's skin growing taut over their new son and would spend hours with his cheek pressed against her baby bump and a happy smile on his face.

The baby was growing and surviving and somehow Tristan was able to keep Ginny from changing. Tris didn't seem unhappy or harmed by what he was doing. Ginny carefully asked him after every full moon. Tris always replied that he wanted a baby brother and was fine holding her wolf.

Ginny just hoped that she was having a son so that Tristan wouldn't be disappointed. Weasleys were prone to boys, as were Malfoys, so Ginny figured the odds were good.

Tristan turned four and all the werewolves, vampires, and coven witches that were friendly came to his party. The little boy had a blast and everyone else seemed to have fun dodging the part boy, part wolf that went careening around. A couple of the witches brought their children and Tris decided to stay human with Annie in order to play properly with the "strange kids with weird powers".

Month seven came along and the healer told Ginny that she was having twins. Ginny sighed excitedly and went to go buy a bigger cradle. Tristan's old cradle was meant for one child and she needed one for two now.

And then, suddenly, there were two baby girls nestled in Ginny's arms. Draco was ecstatic that he had three kids, regardless of their gender. Ginny was just glad that she could see her toes again.

Tristan climbed up onto the bed to see the new arrivals and gasped. "But, mummy, they're girls! I wanted a boy!"

"Sisters can be fun too," Draco said. "You have fun with Annie all the time."

Tristan slid off the bed with a giant pout on his face. "I wanted a brother," he sniffled, before dashing out of the room to go find Annie and complain.

Ginny would have been upset, except that a couple of hours later she woke up from a nap to see Tristan and Annie carefully poking their noses over the cradle to have a look.

"They're all wrinkly," Anne said with a sneer of disgust. "I wouldn't bite them, they probably taste like drool."

"No biting my sisters," Tris said with a frown at Annie. "You're mine, but they're mine too."

"Okay," Annie replied. "Let's go make Ben get us food."

Ginny smiled happily as she closed her eyes again. Tristan may have wanted a brother, but he didn't seem too disappointed with a sister. Ginny fell back asleep and woke up a few minutes later when her newborn twins decided it was lunchtime for them too.


End file.
